The Stains of Time
by Colin The Master of Whisperers
Summary: Harry Potter failed in his task to defeat the Dark Lord on May 2nd, 1998, thus solidifying Voldemort's hold over Magical Britain and condemning many to death. In 2003, five years after Voldemort's monumental victory at Hogwarts, those who had denounced the magical world are forcibly drawn back into it as a rebellion is forming in the shadows. Various viewpoints and storylines.
1. An Unlikely Visitor

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 1**_

_**An Unlikely Visitor**_

_"When you're sad and when you're lonely,_  
_And you haven't got a friend,_  
_Just remember that death is not the end."  
_\- "Death is Not the End" by Bob Dylan

_**September 1st, 2003**_

There was silence. The cold stone walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry stood as they had for so many years, though without the usual commotion surrounding them. No First Year students scurrying to find their first classes. No Seventh Year students striding confidently through the many secret passageways. No teachers prowling, looking for wrongdoers. No ghosts, lingering after death. Nothing remained. Not even Peeves, the castle's once permanent poltergeist. Peeves had vacated the school when he realised what had happened to its inhabitants.

In the fifth year following his conquest, Lord Voldemort made his annual trip to the now abandoned castle. It was something that he relished doing. This was where his ultimate conquest had started and this was where it had finally ended. He walked into the Great Hall, empty of everything, and found the precise spot where he had been standing when he finally and unequivocally bested Harry Potter. He stopped and turned on his heels. For a second, he could have sworn that the boy was right in front of him, risen again from the dead. But the momentary vision passed from his eyes and his thin lips curved upwards into a smile as he surveyed the empty Great Hall in front of him.

After he killed Potter, the battle was easily won. The entire population of the Great Hall had been shocked and silent when Potter's body fell to the ground, the Killing Curse beating out the Disarming Charm sent by the weaker wizard. Bellatrix, he remembered with an odd pang, was dead on the floor. By the wand of the Weasley matriarch, much to Voldemort's anger. Everyone else, Death Eater or otherwise, had stood, looking on in utter disbelief and astonishment at the scene in front of them. Voldemort had given the word and the Death Eaters apparated away. It was not usually possible within the wards around the castle, and yet they still disappeared. Voldemort cast two spells in quick succession before leaving. One locked the great oak doors to the Great Hall, while the other filled the room with Fiendfyre. Voldemort's greatest regret from that night was that he had to get away quickly to avoid the flames. He never saw them die.

But they did die. And with them, the hopes of Magical Britain went as well. The rest of the community seemed to give up all hope. Those that didn't fall in line were killed. When Magical Britain fell, Voldemort felt somewhat content. He would move on to the rest of Europe eventually, but he needed to be sure of his power over Britain first. It was almost time to move. Next in his sights was Beauxbatons and France.

His smile grew into a laugh that echoed off the walls. To Voldemort, it sounded like music. He slowly walked out of the Hall and eventually came to the tomb of Albus Dumbledore. He had not entered it since discovering the Elder Wand. He looked at the tomb for a long while.

"I won old man," Voldemort said with a smile, pulling his features grotesquely. "Your best wasn't good enough. I spent so many years needlessly in fear of Harry Potter. A _child_. He was not the saviour, old man. I was."

With that, Voldemort flew away from the entombed body of his greatest foe and the empty Hogwarts castle, using nothing but his mind.

* * *

_**Dennis Creevey**_

_**September 5th, 2003**_

Dennis Creevey had assimilated himself right back into the Muggle community following the Battle of Hogwarts with very little difficulty. He had never really found out the complete truth of what happened during the Battle of Hogwarts, but he knew that Colin was dead. He was sure of that fact, if no others.

The day after the Battle, he was approached by a ghost. Nearly Headless Nick. Dennis, who had been hiding out in London with his parents when Colin went to fight, would never have expected to see any ghost appear in London, let alone one he was familiar with.

"Do not return to the magical world," Nick had told him gravely, a pained expression on his face. "It's over. He won." Nick did not have to say who he meant.

"Colin?" Dennis had asked, a catch in his throat. Nick shook his head sadly, causing it to move slightly out of place. Dennis wanted to cry. "What about the rest?"

"He burned all the ones in the Great Hall," Nick said, with the most emotion Dennis had ever heard in the voice of a ghost. "I saw some get away. Not many."

"Burned?" Dennis asked. He could feel himself shaking.

"Just after he killed Harry Potter for the second time," Nick said solemnly. "You cannot stay in this world anymore."

That had not, however, been the final contact with magic that Dennis had over the next five years. He recognised Justin Finch-Fletchley from Dumbledore's Army when he was shopping once. He tried to get his attention, but Justin didn't hear him. Later that same year he saw Zacharias Smith with two older people who had to be his parents. When Dennis spoke to them, Zacharias took Dennis away from his parents.

"Get away from us," he said hurriedly. "My parents are pledged to You-Know-Who now. I don't like it, but it's true. He has ways of getting information out of people. Please, stay away. I don't want anyone else to die."

When Dennis turned to leave, he heard Zacharias talking to his parents.

"Filthy Muggle had me confused with someone else," he said with a disgusted tone. Dennis had never held Zacharias in any kind of high opinion, but he was grateful for what he had done.

The last person from the Wizarding world he encountered was the oddest.

It was five years after the downfall of Magical Britain and Dennis was living in an apartment near where he was attending University. How she tracked him down, he had no idea. But she did.

There was a hurried knock at his door. When he answered it, he saw a short woman wearing all pink. Dolores Umbridge was thinner than she had been years before, and he saw that her hair was greying. She was carrying a boy, about five years old, who had shoulder-length aqua blue hair. She had a look on her face that was a mixture of relief and exhaustion.

"What the hell do _you_ want?" Dennis asked her, ready to slam the door in her face, despite the boy in her arms.

"Creevey?" she asked frantically. "Dennis?"

"Um … yeah," Dennis replied awkwardly.

"Please," she said, almost pleading. "I don't know what else to do. Please let us in."

A silence fell over the three of them while Dennis weighed his options. It was only when he looked at the boy that he made his decision and let her into his apartment. His roommates were both at class, so it was just him, Umbridge and the boy. When he closed the door, Umbridge cast several spells at the door. Dennis made the assumption that the spells were locking charms. When was finished, she found the couch, sat down and looked at the child.

"Don't touch anything," she warned, almost tenderly. The boy nodded, so she sat him next to her. Dennis sat in an armchair.

"What is this about, Professor?" he asked pointedly. It had been two years since his encounter with Zacharias Smith, so seeing someone he knew from his past life was jarring to say the least. Especially seeing a grovelling, frightened Umbridge.

"I can't stay long," she said, her eyes looking to the windows. Dennis looked, but could see nothing out of the ordinary. "He's chasing me."

"You mean Vol –" Dennis began to ask, but he was cut off with an ear-piercing shriek and he watched Umbridge cover the ears of the boy with her.

"No!" she shouted. "Not the name. Never the name."

"But it is him, right?" Dennis asked. Umbridge nodded. "I'm gonna need more than that Professor." He looked to the boy who was looking around the room, very interested in his surroundings.

"I betrayed him," she said simply. "I never wanted to even be in his service, believe me, but he left me no choice. When he won at Hogwarts, it was join or die. I didn't want to die, so I joined him. I didn't have to do the horrible things. I know what happened, but I didn't do them. After a while I realised what a horrible person I had been. I know it now. I couldn't keep doing that. I fled. I went between place and place for a month or so and came across a house in a wood somewhere. I still don't know precisely where it was.

"That's where I found Teddy here," she said, smiling a shaky smile at the boy before turning back with the same frightened look to Dennis. "He was with his grandmother, Andromeda. Andromeda Tonks. She was a good woman. Amazing. She took me in and sheltered me. Until his people came. They killed her, but I got out with Teddy. I've been running since."

Dennis was actually shocked. It was a lot to take in.

"And what does this have to do with me?" he asked Umbridge.

"I'm going to die," Umbridge said with an odd calmness that went against what he had seen of her thus far. "It's inevitable. He will catch up to me eventually and I will die for what I did. I'm fine with that. I can't keep running. I'm just so exhausted. So I thought. I thought so hard. I had seen the list of the dead, and there were so many names on there. So so many. You are one of the few students still alive and not in his service. And you're a good person. You were in that club for Dumbledore."

It hit Dennis then just how many people were dead.

"Who else is alive?" he asked. She looked so sad.

"That you would know? I found out that Justin Finch-Fletchley was, but I found him dead in his home before I came here," she replied. "There are a few older students that you might not know. Marietta Edgecomb's family defied him, so she might still be alive."

"Damn," Dennis said. A day did not go by that he didn't think about the Wizarding world, but this was the first time he truly understood just what had happened. The Muggle world just kept going. Occasional deaths that could only be Death Eaters, but everything had been quiet for the most part. "You know I can't exactly take you in, right?"

"I know," Umbridge replied. "I wouldn't ask it of you. I couldn't. I just … I can't risk Teddy's life anymore. Not now."

"I can't take a kid either!" Dennis said, surprised. "I'm still a student."

"Dolly," he heard Teddy say quietly. "Are you going away?"

"Please, Dennis," Umbridge pleaded. Her eyes filled with tears. "Would your parents take him in? Please?"

Dennis considered it as he looked at the boy.

"What about the Trace?" he asked. Umbridge shook her head.

"Andromeda was a Black," she explained. "Her family knew how to get rid of it, so she did it not long after he took over. He cannot be tracked. He's not a danger. I swear."

"Dolly?" Teddy asked, touching Umbridge's arm. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing dear," she said comfortingly. It was apparent to Dennis that it was a lie, but it seemed to sate the boy.

"Can I at least call my parents first and ask them?" Dennis asked. Umbridge nodded, and Dennis went to the phone. He had a hurried and somewhat confused conversation with his father for about ten minutes in which Umbridge seemed to constantly wring her hands when she wasn't muttering reassurances to little Teddy who seemed to be almost as confused as Dennis' father.

"Dad," Dennis said into the receiver, finding himself to be more concerned than he had felt before, "he's just a kid. If we don't take him, he'll die with Professor Umbridge."

"I need to talk to your mother," his father replied after a moment's silence.

"I don't think there's any time for that," Dennis said, looking at Umbridge who was now hugging Teddy to her and watching the window intently. "You need to make a decision." His father swore.

"Damn it all, Dennis," he said. "Fine. You're going to need to get him here today though. You can't keep him there."

"I know," Dennis replied, feeling relieved. "Thanks so much Dad. I'll see you later on."

"God I hope your mother is okay with this," his father said.

Dennis hung up the phone and walked over to where Umbridge was standing, holding Teddy's hand. She was crying.

"Thank you so much," she said, reaching with her free hand into one of the pockets of her jacket. She pulled out a notebook and handed it to Dennis. "You'll need that. It's all the information I have about Teddy and also some stuff for your parents to raise a kid like him."

Dennis opened the notebook to the first page.

_Edward Remus Lupin_

_Born: 11th April, 1998_

_Parents: Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin, both deceased._

_Carer: Andromeda Tonks (Grandmother) Dolores Umbridge_

_Ability: Metamorphmagus_

_Potential Health Issues: Remus Lupin, his father, was a werewolf. Unknown if there were any complications._

Dennis recognised both names. Colin always knew too much about people, and what Colin knew, Dennis was bound to know. Teddy was the son of two prominent members of the Order of the Phoenix.

"He hasn't shown any symptoms of being a werewolf," Umbridge explained before reaching in and drawing out a bigger, much thicker book from her pocket. _Undetectable Extension Charm_, Dennis thought. "This is for you. You never finished your education, so this should come in handy. You'll need to teach Teddy when the time comes. Do _not_ send him anywhere. It's too dangerous."

"Okay," Dennis said, taking the book from Umbridge's shaking hands. It was much lighter than it seemed to be at first. She then handed him a box.

"Just tap it with your wand and say 'Remus', and it will open," she explained. "It's everything I have that I could salvage for Teddy. Clothes. Books. Toys. Whatever was left."

"Thank you," Dennis said. He was feeling slightly light-headed. Umbridge knelt down and looked into Teddy's blue eyes. The boy could see the tear-tracks on her face.

"Dolly has to go now," she said sadly, clearly holding back tears.

"Where are you going?" the boy asked, worried.

"I don't know," Umbridge admitted. "I'll find somewhere. You have to be a good boy for Dennis, okay?"

"Okay Dolly," the boy replied, his eyes wandering to Dennis. Dennis could see confusion in his young eyes. Umbridge leaned forward and kissed Teddy on the forehead.

"Thank you so much," she said without looking at Dennis. She then waved her wand and exited the room, never looking back.

"Who was that?" Patrick Stevenson asked, entering the room after she left. He then spied Teddy and the notebook, magic book and box in Dennis' hands. "What's going on?"

"I don't have time to explain," Dennis said quickly. "I have to go see my parents. Just … forget this happened. It's way too much to explain."

Patrick considered this, while setting his backpack down on the table.

"Fine," he said finally. "You know, there is so much about you I don't get. Your brother was sixteen. I worked it out. How the hell did he die in the army?"

"Seriously, I don't have time," Dennis said, putting the things Umbridge gave him into a backpack. He looked at Teddy. "Just wait here, okay?" The boy nodded, and looked towards the door.

Dennis ran into his room and picked out some clothes, shoving them into the bag with the two books and the box. He also moved some stuff around and found his wand. He picked it up out of the box for the first time in months. It felt good.

"Uh, Dennis?" he heard Patrick say from the door. Dennis didn't have time to conceal the wand, but he thrust it into his pocket anyway. He turned around to find Patrick leading Teddy into the room. The boy's hair was no longer aqua. It was a bright pink.

"Um …" Dennis couldn't think.

"What the hell is going on here?" Patrick asked accusingly. "I know it's not some prank. I saw the kid's hair change. And what was that you were holding?"

"Look, Patrick," Dennis said hurriedly, pulling his backpack on, "I'll tell you later. For now, I have to get Teddy to my parents'. I promise, I'll tell you. But don't tell anyone else. Especially Sam. It's important."

"Okay. We'll talk when you get back," Patrick replied. "But I want the _truth_."

"You'll get it," Dennis replied. _It isn't like it matters anymore. The Statute of Secrecy barely matters while Voldemort's in power_, Dennis thought bitterly. He crouched down to Teddy's height. "We're gonna go on a little trip, okay? Can you change your hair to the same colour as mine?"

Dennis wasn't sure what exactly Teddy could do. He screwed his face up as if he was in pain and his hair receded back into his scalp and changed from pink to the mousey brown colour that Dennis had.

"Christ," Patrick said. "You've got a lot to tell me." Dennis smiled at him.

"If Sam asked, I had to go home because of some family matters. I never told you what it was," Dennis said, leading Teddy to the door. "Got it?"

"Sure," Patrick said, bemused.

Dennis took Teddy to the car park and found his car. He put his backpack in the back seat and then went around to the passenger's side seat. He realised then that he didn't have a car seat. He had no other choice, so he sat Teddy in the front seat and fastened the seatbelt, much to the annoyance of the five year-old. He then looked around and, seeing no one, performed a cushioning charm on the seatbelt so that, in case there was an accident, Teddy would be more protected.

The drive to his childhood home was only two hours, but Dennis found the trip to be extremely odd. For a five year-old, Teddy was remarkably quiet. He was also slightly terrified until Dennis calmed him down. As it turned out, Teddy had not been in a car before. Dennis played the radio at a low volume, listening to the hit music of the day while he drove in and out of traffic.

When they finally reached their destination, Dennis pulled to the side of the road and breathed a sigh of relief. He had been concerned that something might happen on the trip over, especially now that he had a wizard in his care. In the end, he saw nothing out of the ordinary and was not stopped once by the police. He got out of the car, grabbed his backpack and then unbuckled Teddy, who was looking around the place in wonder. Dennis' parents had found a rather nice neighbourhood and it was even sunny.

"Come on," Dennis said kindly. Teddy stepped out of the car and held Dennis' hand.

"What's going on?" he asked. Dennis then came to the realisation just how much had happened in Teddy's life in just one day. The only person who cared for him left him, he was left alone with a stranger and was whisked away somewhere he didn't know. Dennis sighed and sat on the grass. He pulled Teddy lightly down to sit next to him.

"Dolly had to go away," he told the boy, who looked at him inquisitively. It seemed odd calling Umbridge 'Dolly', but he felt it best given the circumstances. "She couldn't take you with her because it was too scary."

"Is Dolly okay?" Teddy asked. Dennis heard a door open behind him, but ignored it.

"Yes," Dennis lied. "She will be fine."

"That's good," Teddy replied with a smile.

"Dolly wanted me to look after you, but I can't," Dennis explained. "My Mum and Dad are going to look after you, okay? You're going to stay with them."

"Oh," Teddy said. "Why?"

"It's all we can do," Dennis said truthfully. "You'll be safe with them. They're fantastic parents. I promise you'll be okay."

Dennis stood up and helped Teddy to his feet. When he turned around, his father was standing in the doorway.

When inside, Dennis explained everything to his father. Brian Creevey was an average sort of man. He was not tall, and was skinny. He was clean-shaven, and it was clear where Dennis and Colin had gotten their hair. After the explanation, his father was still apprehensive, but said he would try. He decided to start dinner and asked Teddy if he wanted to help. Teddy was very enthusiastic about that.

Dennis found his bedroom relatively untouched, but clean. When he entered, he immediately fell onto his single bed and looked at the ceiling. He was feeling apprehensive about how his mother would react to Teddy and how Patrick would react to his explanations. For the first time in many years, for better or for worse, he felt the presence of magic in his life again. It was almost as if he was standing in the Great Hall in Hagrid's coat waiting to be Sorted.


	2. Love, Morality and Executions

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 2**_

_**Love, Morality and Executions**_

"_It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners._"_  
\- _Albert Camus

_**Draco Malfoy**_

_**September 6th, 2003**_

The Muggle family were on their knees in front of the black statue in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic Headquarters. The father had to be no older than thirty-five. His black hair was messed up and he looked like he had not slept in days. He wore Muggle clothing and had a healing cut on one cheek. His wife was of a similar age as her husband. She was a brunette with long knotted hair. She had a black eye and was crying quietly. The oldest child was a teenage boy who looked remarkably like his father. He remained composed, but there was fear in his eyes. The last was an eleven year old girl. She was openly weeping. Her hair was long, like her mothers, but black like her fathers. Her loud sobs mingled with general murmuring were all that could be heard bouncing off the stone walls of the atrium.

Draco Malfoy stood next to his father, watching on, part of a crowd. Next to him was his new wife Astoria. The two had been married in June of 2003. It was, in truth, a political marriage. The Dark Lord had been concerned as to just where the Greengrass family stood within his new regime and forced Draco's father, Lucius, to make a marriage contract between the two houses. Daphne Greengrass had already married Blaise Zabini, so that left only the younger one. Draco would have preferred to marry Daphne as he knew her at least, but in the three months they were engaged, Draco found that he had started to fall for strong-willed Astoria Greengrass.

The same could not be said for his mother. Narcissa Malfoy was opposed to Draco being forced to marry anyone and was even more opposed when she got to know Astoria. She was worried that Astoria was too ambitious and over-confident for Draco. Draco did not share these beliefs, especially after the wedding. He could not pinpoint when it happened, but he knew that he had fallen in love with Astoria and he could tell that she felt the same for him.

The Dark Lord apparated into the atrium with no noise, emitting black smoke as he appeared. In recent years, he had worked out how to do that and shared the information with no one. It made him seem more powerful, and Draco knew that was why he kept it to himself. Draco watched as the Dark Lord looked at the family in front of him. The father flinched when he looked upon the Dark Lord's face. The girl was still sobbing.

The Dark Lord looked at the girl, leaning down to put his face in front of hers and she stopped crying. She opened her eyes just a sliver and screamed.

"Leave her alone!" the girl's older brother yelled. The Dark Lord turned his eyes to him and stood straight once again. Draco couldn't see his face, but he knew that the Dark Lord could sneer with the best of them.

"You would forsake your own life so easily, boy?" he asked coldly, his white bony hands caressing his wand. To his credit, the boy didn't flinch. He stared unblinking into the red eyes in front of him.

"Maybe you should forsake yours you ugly piece of garbage," the boy mocked, before spitting towards the Dark Lord. It only reached the hem of his robes, but it was clear that the Dark Lord was not pleased. Draco felt Astoria's small hand slip into his.

"_Crucio_!" the Dark Lord shrieked in anger, pointing his wand directly at the boy who immediately fell to the ground, writhing in pain. His screams were echoing off the cold stone walls and, through all of that, Draco could hear laughter from the crowd. He couldn't help but recall the times he had been placed under the curse over the years. Just the thought was enough to make him start to shake.

"Stop, please!" the mother screamed. "Please, he's just a boy! Take me instead! Please."

To Draco's surprise, the Dark Lord stopped the curse and looked at the mother.

"There was another woman who said that to me," he said in a high, soft voice that seemed to carry further than it should. "If you think it will spare your son, you are mistaken."

"Please," she whimpered.

"You," the Dark Lord addressed the little girl, "are an abomination. You possess magic, yet you do not come from magical blood."

"We've told your people already," the father said angrily. "We don't know what you're talking about! We don't know anything about this so-called magic!"

"We are a society that prides ourselves on disallowing the filth," the Dark Lord continued as if the man had not spoken. "Our policy is to rid Britain of the likes of you. That includes the family around you. If left alive, you will pollute us."

"Please," the mother pleaded, looking at the young girl who was still sobbing silently.

"We won't do anything of the sort," the father said, finally showing the fear that he had been lacking. "Just please, let us go."

"_Avada Kedavra_!" the Dark Lord was swift, and Draco could not follow his wand. The man fell dead. His wife screamed. "Silence!" The room fell silent, even the grieving woman and the boy who was struggling to get to his knees as his hands were tied. Astoria gripped Draco's hand tighter as Yaxley moved forward and roughly helped the boy to his knees.

"You're a monster," the boy said. Even now he kept his strength. Draco figured that he had no idea that his father lay dead beside him.

The Dark Lord didn't even need to speak a word. The boy's head was on the ground next to his crumpled body before he even knew what was happening. Just as she realised what had happened, the mother was hit with a green bolt and collapsed, draped over her husband, her face the image of pain. The Dark Lord looked to the little girl now, a smile on his face.

"Look at your family," he told her quietly. She shook her head, her hands not leaving her face. "I said _look_."

The little girl's hands moved from her eyes and her eyes opened jerkily. Her head slowly turned to where her family lay dead. Her mouth opened in a scream that no one could hear. The atrium was filled with a deep green light. Draco felt his insides churning and Astoria shaking as the Dark Lord motioned for people to move the bodies.

These executions had become commonplace over the last five years. Any child that shows any magical ability and were not registered were rounded up and executed, along with their immediate family. Because of the way that the Trace works, any child born before the Dark Lord took over is not seen until they hit eleven and would, in accordance with the rules of the Trace, normally be at school. Any child born after the Dark Lord's takeover was seen the moment they used any form of magic for the very first time.

The Dark Lord did not normally partake in such mundane tasks, only occasionally making an appearance. He would usually leave it to various Death Eaters, however today was different. It was the first execution since September the First. He always seemed to find those ones particularly pleasing, Draco had noticed.

Draco, being a Malfoy, was expected to be present at these sorts of events. He attended most of them with his parents and, now, his wife. Astoria, he knew, did not enjoy them. In fact, she detested them. She could not stomach death of any kind. Draco, too, was beginning to feel this way. It was an accepted fact that, to live in their world now, you had to accept the Dark Lord's way of life. In doing so, it also meant that you had to agree with everything he believed, something that Draco was finding increasingly difficult to do.

Later that evening, Draco and Astoria had dinner with Draco's parents. This was a usual occurrence, even though Draco and Astoria were living in Severus Snape's old home at Spinner's End.

"A fine execution today, wouldn't you say Draco?" Lucius asked conversationally as a house elf Draco didn't recognise put a teapot on the table.

"Indeed it was father," Draco lied. His father had become, if it were possible, a more fervent supporter of the Dark Lord, so it was not wise for Draco to voice his misgivings at the dinner table.

"They need not have died," Astoria said, looking Lucius directly in the eyes. Lucius smiled.

"My dear," he said, "the girl was a Mudblood. That was the family of a Mudblood."

"Yes," Astoria said, not even attempting to hide the sarcasm in her voice. "Yes they were. How fortunate it is that our society is killing people for having the sheer audacity to be born to who they're born to. How very fortunate."

"Your talk is near treason," Narcissa said, a hint of anger in her voice. Astoria smiled at her.

"Come now," she said sweetly. "This is only talk. A discussion of philosophy among family members. I can't imagine this is treason."

"You are speaking against the Dark Lord," Narcissa snapped.

"I did no such thing," Astoria replied sweetly. "I was discussing the execution, not the executioner."

"By questioning the actions of the Dark Lord, you are questioning the Dark Lord himself," Narcissa said as if Astoria was no more than a child.

"Not at all, mother dearest," Astoria said back. "I merely have a difference in philosophy to our dear Dark Lord. He can, and will, do what he pleases. I just feel that all life is important."

"Even Mudblood life?" Narcissa asked.

"Even Mudblood life," Astoria confirmed. She then stood up. "Draco, honey, it's getting late. I'm sure your parents would love to have us stay longer, but I am so very tired."

The goodbyes were stiff and formal after that discussion, and Draco wasted no time in stepping into the fireplace and taking the Floo back to their home. Severus Snape had not kept a particularly tidy home, but Draco and Astoria had made it their own in the short time that they had been living together. They kept the bookcases where they were, but brought in their own furniture. It was no longer dark and dusty. It was a home that they were proud of.

When they cleaned themselves off, Draco pulled Astoria in and kissed her deeply.

"What was that for?" she asked when they parted. Draco smiled and brushed her cheek.

"I love you so much." He kissed her again.

Later that night, they were lying in their featherbed, Astoria's head resting on his shoulder while Draco held her close.

"Is this what you want?" Astoria asked him quietly.

"Of course," Draco responded immediately, kissing her on the top of her head. "I love this."

"No," she giggled, "I mean this world we're living in."

"I don't know," Draco said truthfully.

"It's been five years, Draco," Astoria said, rolling over to look at Draco's face. "I know you used to believe in the whole Pureblood thing, but you can't think that that's actually right anymore. Look at us. We're a shell of what we once were."

Draco stayed silent. He had been wrestling with this for years now. Ever since the Dark Lord finally won and started to weed out those who couldn't track their magical heritage, the population had dwindled. Draco estimated that the population was at least a quarter of the size it once was. Smaller, in fact, Draco thought.

"And the executions," Astoria said, her eyes full of disgust. "I _know_ you don't like them any more than I do."

"What can we do about it?" Draco snapped, and immediately felt guilty.

"I don't know," Astoria admitted, seemingly ignoring her husband's outburst. "But one day you and I will have a child. Maybe not today, but one day we will. And that child will be brought up in a world of executions and bigotry. I know you don't want to have your child witness that."

"There's nothing we can do," Draco insisted. "If we even tried anything, we would be killed."

"Tortured and then killed," Astoria agreed. "I think I'm willing to take that risk. There are some things worth being killed for."

Draco looked deep into Astoria's brown eyes, and he could tell that she was telling the truth. Perhaps his mother was right to be worried about her. Astoria truly was leading her son down the wrong path.

"Astoria, my love," Draco said, kissing her on the nose, "I won't let you be killed."

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Astoria replied, with a radiant smile and sparkling eyes. She leaned up and kissed Draco deeply.

The following morning, Draco took the Floo to his parents' home. It was not a usual occurrence for him to do so early in the morning, but it was necessary.

"I must apologise for Astoria," Draco told both his parents. He and Astoria had decided that this should be the reason for his odd appearance. "She was distressed after the execution. She has a weak stomach for such things." His mother was sceptical.

"I understand," his father replied, remarkably understanding given the situation. "Executions are not for the weak-hearted, even if it is Mudbloods and Muggles. I admit, the beheading could be too much for some."

"Why did she not accompany you, Draco?" Narcissa asked.

"I wanted to spare her the embarrassment," Draco replied. "I'm sure you will understand." Narcissa nodded reluctantly. "Father, may I have a word?"

"Of course, Draco," Lucius replied silkily. He eyed Narcissa, who left the room promptly. "What is it?"

"I want to visit Hogwarts," Draco said quickly.

Ever since the Dark Lord's conquest, Hogwarts had not been a functioning school. It stood as a testament to the victory of the Dark Lord and nothing more. He allowed people to visit only on the second of May each year, in celebration. It was said that the school was never reopened because the Headmaster's Office could not be penetrated, even by the Dark Lord himself. "The Old Fool's Last Defence" the Dark Lord called it, if some were to be believed.

Any pureblood would be taught by their parents or trained tutors at home. While there were people over the years that campaigned for the school to be reopened, the Dark Lord would not relent and it remained closed.

"Why would you do that?" Lucius asked curiously. "The school is abandoned."

"I know," Draco said patiently. "However, Astoria and I would like the chance to see it once again. We both went to school there, and it would be nice to see it all without anyone else around. Also, Astoria always felt a bit upset that she never finished her schooling there."

Lucius considered this for a moment.

"I see," he said, shifting his cane to his left hand. "I, too, know the connection that you get to the school. There is something about it that always seems to draw you back."

"Is there any way Astoria and I could visit it?" Draco asked. Lucius looked thoughtful.

"I will have a word to the Dark Lord about it," Lucius said.

"Is that really necessary father?" Draco asked. His father raised an eyebrow. "The Dark Lord would give us escorts, without a doubt. I would like it if I could roam the castle alone with my wife."

"It is dangerous to go against him," Lucius reminded his son, who smiled.

"It's dangerous to go against Astoria," he shot back. That even made Lucius smile.

"I feel that way about your mother sometimes," he said. Almost immediately his face turned thoughtful. "When the Dark Lord closed it for good, he put wards around the entirety of the grounds so that if anyone stepped through them, they would be detected. However, I was there when he did it and noticed a weak point. For some reason, he could not completely ward the area at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It's weaker there. I don't know why."

"So we could get to the castle if we enter through the forest?" Draco asked. His father nodded slowly.

"Yes, I think so. There is a specific area that you'll see if you look hard enough," Lucius said. "It would still be safer if I were to talk to the Dark Lord."

"That isn't necessary," Draco said, pointing his wand at his father whose face flickered confusion just before Draco muttered the incantation quickly, and his father's eyes glazed over. "Thank you, father. I'll be sure to tell Astoria."

Lucius Malfoy would believe that the discussion was about a sensitive issue that Draco felt awkward talking about in front of his mother, rather than a discussion about Hogwarts. Draco felt a great pang of guilt when he stepped into the fireplace to go home. Altering memories was much worse than simply lying.

He stepped out of the Floo to find Astoria sitting in an armchair, a large book in her hands.

"Did everything go okay?" she asked.

"I had to use a memory charm," Draco said. Astoria closed her book.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"He's my father," Draco said simply.

"I know," Astoria said kindly. "I don't think I could do that to either of my parents."

Draco went into detail about his discussion with his father. Astoria was pleased by the result.

"So when do we go?" Draco asked. It was not the first time in his life that he was relying on someone else to take charge of a situation, but he had never believed that it would be his younger wife who would be doing it. Draco didn't mind, though. He trusted Astoria completely.

"We could go today," Astoria suggested with a smile. Draco nodded, but felt nervous.

The two apparated to Hogsmeade, where they found themselves on a somewhat deserted street. Hogsmeade was still going strong, even after the Dark Lord's takeover. It was one of the only purely magic communities, so it housed a lot of pureblood families that could not afford to live somewhere like Malfoy Manor. A middle-aged man glanced their way, but paid them no mind and moved on.

Draco mounted the broomstick he had brought with him and Astoria sat behind him, her arms wrapped around his abdomen. Astoria had never been fond of broomsticks, so they decided to just use the one. Naturally, Draco had the latest model. A Firebolt 5600. He rarely felt compelled to use it, but when he did, his heart raced, and it was racing even more so with Astoria's arms around him.

He kicked off from the ground and the couple soared into the air and towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Unlike the wards set upon the castle by the Founders, the Dark Lord's were visible to those who were looking very closely. It was lucky that Draco was used to looking at such things from a broomstick as a result of his training as a Seeker. Draco saw a point where the wards met the forest and flew downwards, Astoria's arms tightening around him as they made the descent. When they finally landed, Astoria sighed deeply, dismounted and looked around, shaking.

"I hate brooms," she complained. Draco smiled and packed his broomstick its case, which shrunk small enough to fit in his pocket. "Just in here?" Astoria asked, pointing to the shimmering which was intercepted by some large oak trees.

"I think so," Draco said, taking Astoria's hand. "We'll just walk through it. One way or another, we will know if Father was right."

The two walked forward towards the tree line. When they stepped through the wards, Draco felt a shiver down his spine, but nothing more. He held his breath for a few seconds. Nothing seemed to happen.

"I think it's safe," he said, looking around. That particular section of the forest was well-lit since the sun was out and the trees were thinner.

"Can you hear that?" Astoria asked hurriedly. Draco listened. He could hear the sounds of hooves rushing towards them. Before they could get away, he saw a centaur appear in front of them. This particular centaur had black hair both flowing long from the top of his head and on his lower half. As he came towards them, Draco found himself rooted to the ground around him. Try as he might, he couldn't move.

"Draco," Astoria whispered. "Draco, I can't move."

"Neither can I," Draco whispered back as the centaur moved towards them. The sound of hoof beats rushing to the area could still be heard in the distance.

As the centaur drew closer, Draco saw that he could only see the whites of the beast's eyes. The centaur possessed no discernible weapons, but had something enclosed in its fist.

Astoria was gripping Draco's hand tight as it drew closer towards them. Suddenly it stopped in front of them. Behind it, a herd of centaurs appeared and the hoof beats stopped. The black-haired centaur began to talk in a raspy voice, thick with malice.

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord survives through failure, and died in victory. Fire, blood, death. Life. The Turncoat, the Soft-Hearted Manipulator, the Survivor, the Teacher, the Outsider. The Brother, the Face-Changer, the Hunted, the Conspirator and the Believer. Different paths and different lives. Saving and changing. Choices. The wand, the stone, the cloak. Time. The old men and the young women. The train hasn't even left the station. You are only just beginning. O Children. Rejoice …_"

As the centaur's eyes came back into focus, the centaurs behind him spoke as one, their voices mingling melodically.

"_Rejoice_ …"

The centaur at the front of the herd held out his unfurled hand to Draco as the others moved slowly forward.

"For you, Draco of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Malfoy and Black," the centaur said, his voice now lighter and less menacing. "You will have need of this, but you shall not keep it long, for it shall come out of your possession when it is needed by another."

Draco let go of Astoria's shaking hand and reached out his own. The centaur grasped Draco's hand, with both of his, and Draco felt something small and cold in his palm. He looked into the centaur's golden eyes.

"Who are you?" Draco asked, his hand still being clasped. The centaur smiled.

"For now, that is not important," he said mystically, looking to the skies. "You have so much to do. But not today. Your place is not at Hogwarts today. Eventually, yes. But not now."

"We need to get to the castle," Astoria said brusquely.

"Not today, young one," the centaur said, now completely flanked by other centaurs, all of whom were unarmed. "When the time comes, we will escort you through the Forest. Now is not the time."

He let go of Draco's hands, and Draco immediately made a fist to make sure the item didn't fall from his grasp. He opened his hands and found an oddly shaped, smooth stone with a strange marking carved into it.


	3. Old Wounds

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 3**_

_**Old Wounds**_

"_Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word._"  
– George R.R. Martin ("A Game of Thrones")

_**Dennis Creevey**_

_**September 6th, 2003**_

It had not been entirely pleasant when Simone Creevey had returned home from work the previous day. Dennis and his father explained the situation to Simone, and she seemed to come around to it somewhat. It helped that she thought Teddy was cute. Simone was not nearly as amused as Dennis had been when he got Teddy to change the colour of his hair from mousy brown to black.

That first night, Dennis decided that Teddy should sleep in his old bed, and he would take the couch. He couldn't bring himself to open the door to Colin's old room and couldn't bear the thought of someone other than Colin sleeping in that bed, even if it was himself.

He had lain awake for hours, thinking about just what was happening in his life when he heard soft footsteps coming down the hall. Within seconds he had his wand in his hand, though he was out of practice and probably wouldn't be able to defend himself all too well. When he sat up he saw that it was Teddy, his hair the same black as he had changed it to earlier.

"What's wrong buddy?" Dennis asked, sitting up on the couch. Teddy looked at him curiously for a moment.

"I miss Dolly," he said simply. Dennis slid up the couch and patted the seat next to his. Teddy understood and walked over and sat down.

"I know you miss Dolly," Dennis said as the Teddy's trusting eyes met his. "But she had to go away. You'll be safe here, I promise."

"Can Dolly visit?" Teddy asked. Dennis felt slightly heartbroken for the boy.

"I don't think so," Dennis said kindly. "She loves you, and she will miss you just as much as you'll miss her."

Teddy seemed to think that over for a moment.

"See that room over there?" Dennis asked, pointing. Teddy looked at the door, looked back and then nodded. "That was my brother's room. He had to go away too, like Dolly. I miss him very much."

Dennis had not spoken much about Colin since he died. Whenever he did, it created a sadness like nothing else he knew.

"Do I have to stay here?" Teddy asked.

"Yeah," Dennis said. "But my mum and dad are the greatest mum and dad in the world. You will love it here."

"Will you stay here too?" he asked. Dennis shook his head.

"I have to go to school," Dennis told Teddy. "I'll come and visit though."

For a little while the two of them sat in silence.

"I think you might want to get back to bed," Dennis said with a smile. "You want me to take you in?"

"Yes please," Teddy said tiredly. Dennis took his hand and led him down the hall and to his old room. He tucked the boy into the bed and went to leave the room. "Will you stay with me?"

"I'll stay for a little while," he said. "You have to scooch over a bit."

Dennis sat down on the top of the sheets before leaning back and putting his head on his old pillow. Within minutes, Teddy was asleep. Dennis thought about getting up, but put it off. In the morning he was woken up by his mother. He had not moved since he shut his eyes, but Teddy was now on top of the sheets with an arm across Dennis' chest. As Dennis moved out from under Teddy without waking him, he noticed his mother was smiling in a way she hadn't done in years.

All through Saturday, Simone seemed to gradually get used to the idea of having another child around the house. Dennis suspected that it might do both his parents some good. Teddy would never be a replacement for Colin, but they might like to feel like parents again.

Teddy was fascinated by the television set and spent a large portion of the day watching it, wide-eyed. Dennis watched some with him, but found that children's programmes were not as interesting anymore, so he took out the one textbook he had in his backpack when he left and started reading. After a while, he found that he couldn't concentrate, and the words kept jumbling together and his eyes kept wandering around the house. In particular, he kept looking at the door to Colin's room.

Ever since Colin died, Dennis had not entered his room. He was fairly certain that his mother and father hadn't entered it either. It would just open old wounds that never really healed. For some reason, Dennis couldn't stop himself from looking at the door. It was as if he was being drawn to it somehow.

He finally decided that it was time to put the past away, so he stood up and walked towards the door. His father was working on the car and his mother was busy cooking dinner, so Dennis didn't think that either of them knew what he was doing. For some reason, Dennis didn't feel inclined to let either of them know what he was doing. Partly out of guilt and partly because he didn't want them to stop him for any reason.

There was a slight creak when he pushed open the door. The room was illuminated only by a window opposite the door, the light showing the dust in the air. The first thing Dennis noticed was that Colin's bed was made. This was something that Colin always did out of habit, so it did not surprise him in the least to see that. There was a thick layer of dust on the bed, making the maroon colour lessen. Dennis then saw that there were some shirts and trousers on the floor. They were new shirts that Colin had bought just before they went into hiding in London and forgot to pack. Dennis did not understand why they were on the floor, however.

On the bedside table, there were some books on magic that Colin took to reading whenever he was upset or lonely. He used to read them a lot, Dennis remembered. But it wasn't the book on the table that caught Dennis' eye. It was the scrapbook on the floor, face down and open to a page. Dennis didn't want to disturb the room, but he didn't think that Colin would have left the scrapbook like that. It was full of the photos that Colin took at Hogwarts, and those were too precious to Colin for him to leave them on the floor like that. Dennis picked up the book and looked at the pages it was open to.

On one side it was a picture that Colin had taken during a Dumbledore's Army session of Harry Potter demonstrating the disarming charm to a very young Dennis. The picture was moving, so every now and then Harry would look up at the camera and smile a brilliant smile as the Dennis in the photo performed a perfect charm. Dennis remembered the day fondly.

The other page was missing a picture. Dennis had to rotate the book a bit so he could read what was written on it. On the top of the page, Colin had written in blue ink '_Dumbledore's Army_'. Around where the picture had once been, Colin had written the names of every member of the group. The picture had been taken from the page, Dennis could tell.

Dennis could feel tears forming in his eyes. It was the first time in years that he had held anything of Colin's in his hands or even seen Colin's handwriting. He wanted to look through the scrap book, but he knew that he wouldn't find what he wanted. The photo that was missing was the only photo that Colin had that actually had Colin in it. Dennis had not seen a picture of Colin over the age of eleven in so long that he had begun to forget what his big brother had looked like as a teenager. But Colin never got in front of the camera, and Dennis knew that the group photo was all there was with Colin in it.

Dennis wiped away the tears and put the scrapbook on Colin's bed. It was then that he realised that the top drawer of Colin's dresser was open. Dennis walked over to it and the first thing to catch his eye was the thick book that Dennis knew was Colin's journal.

Dennis stared at the book for a while. The last time he had seen it, Colin had it in London while they were in hiding. It was only then that Dennis put everything together. Colin must have made a stop at home before heading off to fight at Hogwarts. Dennis looked at the scrap book. _He came home to get that picture_, he realised. Dennis looked back to the journal, a tug-of-war happening in his mind.

In the end, Dennis reached out and picked up the book. He opened up to a random page close to the beginning.

_November 7, 1992_

_I feel terrible._

_Harry had a Quidditch match today, Gryffindor against Slytherin. I was in the stands cheering on Gryffindor and enjoying my first real Quidditch match and taking heaps of photos. I think I would have enjoyed it more, except there was a weird bludger following Harry around all the time. It wouldn't let up._

_Gryffindor was being slaughtered, but then Harry caught the Snitch, and they won. But that bludger hit him in the arm and broke it. I ran down the stairs with my camera. When I got there, Harry was lying in the mud. I don't know what I did, but somehow my stupid camera went off! Harry yelled at me._

_I think it was then that I realised. Harry doesn't like me._

_I only want a friend. I don't know anyone here. When I saw that Harry was nearly as old as me, I thought it would be easy to make friends with him. He's some kind of celebrity, and every celebrity I've heard of before seemed to love that kind of thing. I just thought I could make friends by treating him that way. But he hates it. I know that now. I'm not even really sure why he's famous. No one will tell me. No one talks to me._

_I think I'm going to go and apologise to him. Madame Pomfrey won't let me into the Hospital Wing to see him though, so I think I'm going to have to go after dark and sneak in. I want to apologise to him. I want him to like me._

_I want a friend._

Dennis started to cry in earnest. He knew what happened after that. Colin had never told him, but he knew anyway. Colin was petrified heading to the Hospital Wing to visit Harry. Whenever Dennis had heard the whispers about Colin around the school, it was always about "that creepy Creevey kid who tried to give Harry Potter grapes".

Dennis knew that Colin had been lonely at Hogwarts, but he had not realised the extent of it. When Dennis arrived at the school, he and Colin became close again, but Dennis also made other friends. Colin never did. He never could. Everyone his age and older never forgot those first few months.

Dennis put the journal back where he had picked it up from, tears rolling down his cheeks. He looked back at the scrap book. _He didn't die fighting against Voldemort_, Dennis thought to himself. _He died fighting for the only group that ever accepted him. He fought for Dumbledore and Harry. He fought for Dumbledore's Army_.

For the first time in nearly five years, Dennis Creevey truly felt the pain of losing his brother. The room was dusty and dirty, but it was Colin's presence that made it painful. Dennis turned to leave the room and found himself looking at Colin's bookshelf near the door. On the middle shelf sat the camera that Colin had been so proud of. Dennis knew now why Colin used it sparingly after his first year. He tore his eyes away and moved quietly out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Before he could be spotted by anyone he moved to the bathroom where he splashed water on his eyes. He looked into the mirror. He could never see the similarities between Colin and himself, and still couldn't. Except for the hair. They had always had similar hair. When Dennis turned sixteen, he knew that he was taller than Colin had been at that age by quite a margin. Colin also seemed to retain a youthful look in his face, while Dennis' face became much more masculine as he got older. He wondered what Colin would have been like now.

Dennis made the decision to stay Saturday night as well. This was partly because he wanted Teddy to feel more comfortable in the house, but mostly because he was trying to avoid talking to Patrick. Even after everything that had happened to Magical Britain he found himself still wanting to hide it all. _Once Patrick knows, he's in danger_, Dennis thought to himself more than once.

He slept on the couch again that night, but this time he was not disturbed by Teddy. Instead, he dreamed.

In the dream he was back at Hogwarts. Everything seemed peaceful, but it was so quiet. He found that he was standing in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, but when he turned the portrait was empty. He went to it and pulled at the frame, but it didn't budge. There was nothing for it. He walked away, hoping to run into someone.

The corridors were empty. All of them. It felt like he walked for hours and still no one appeared. The portraits that he saw were empty, there were no ghosts and the only sound was the sound of his footsteps. He never spoke a word as he wandered the halls, searching for anyone.

Eventually it came to him what he needed to do. Then it was like he had been transported where he wanted to be. He was outside the giant doors to the Great Hall. Still there was silence. He reached out and pushed the doors open. They seemed to be as light as a feather as they both swung open to reveal the Hall engulfed in flame. It was like looking into a giant furnace. Dennis looked around quickly, but saw no one. He grabbed the doors to the Great Hall once again and pulled them shut. As he did, he heard footsteps running behind him. He couldn't tell how many. Two? Three? He didn't know. He whirled around hoping to see who it was, but he came face to face with an eleven year old Colin, dressed in Death Eater robes, with a smirk on his youthful face and red eyes.

Dennis woke with a jolt and, for a moment, felt like he was falling. He lay staring at the ceiling for a moment, and then noticed that the sun was just rising. No one else was up, but he sat up and made himself a cup of coffee. Normally he would go for tea, but sometimes he just needed coffee, and this was one of those times.

"Morning," Dennis said when his mother entered the kitchen. He had his coffee and two slices of toast.

"You're up early for once," his mother replied with a laugh. She obviously had not been awake long.

"I didn't sleep well," Dennis replied, taking a bite out of his toast.

"Of course you didn't," his mother responded, pouring herself a cup of coffee. "Sleeping on couches isn't fun."

"Mm," Dennis murmured. "Look Mum, I'm sorry to drop this on you. I couldn't just not do anything."

"I understand," his mother said with a smile, sitting next to him with her coffee. "You did the right thing. I just have to get used to having a kid around the house again."

"If you need any help with some magic thing, just let me know," Dennis said. "I can't do everything, but I might be able to help."

"Of course." Dennis had always been impressed at his mother still being okay with magic given everything that had happened over the years. "When are you heading back?"

"In a couple of hours," Dennis said, sipping his coffee. "I want to get back before Patrick wakes up. So any time before two should be good."

"Oh, that's right. You're telling him about everything," his mother said, intrigued.

"Not willingly," Dennis said with a wry smile. "Given what's happened, knowing about the magical world could well be a detriment."

"Honey, he's living with you," his mother reminded him. "From what I can tell, that could be dangerous enough. If these people wanted to, they could track you down. He's in danger just because of that. You may as well tell him so he can be prepared if it happens."

Dennis had not ever heard his mother talking like this before.

"Doesn't that make you and Dad in danger as well?" he asked. His mother nodded.

"Yes it does," she said curtly. "But we're your parents first and foremost. Besides, it's been five years and no one has come looking."

"But don't you get worried?" Dennis asked. His mother smiled.

"All the time," she said, reaching over and fixing his hair. "Life goes on. No matter what happens to you, there is someone out there that needs you to be strong. So I just keep on going."

A few hours later, Dennis had his backpack in his car, ready to go. He said goodbye to his parents, and then knelt down to say goodbye to Teddy, who immediately wrapped him in a hug.

"You have to be good, okay?" Dennis said to him. Teddy nodded. "Great. I'll see you soon."

"Promise?" Teddy asked. Dennis nodded, looking into the boy's blue eyes.

"I promise."

A few hours later he arrived back at his apartment and found his best friend Patrick sitting on the couch. Dennis looked at his watch which told him that it was barely midday.

"Not like you to be up so early, Pat," Dennis said, setting down his backpack. "You missed the sunrise."

"Like you saw the sunrise," Patrick responded. "You're nearly as bad as I am."

"Sam around?"

"No, she stayed at Josh's last night," Patrick said with a grimace. Neither he nor Dennis liked Josh, but they kept that to themselves. Sam was horrifying when she was angry. "We've got something to talk about then, eh?"

"Ugh," Dennis said aloud. "I guess so. I think I'm going to tell Sam as well whenever I see her next."

"Might be a while," Patrick said. "You know how she is when she finds _the one_." Dennis chuckled and sat in their armchair.

"What do you want to know then?" he asked bluntly.

"How about we start with your brother then?" Patrick said, sitting forward on the couch in anticipation.

"Well in my defence, I never lied," Dennis said quickly. "He did die fighting. And, yes, he was only sixteen as you pointed out the other day."

"A sixteen year old dying in combat?" Patrick asked. "I feel like I would have heard of that on some sort of news or other."

"Well, normally I suppose you would, but this wasn't normal," Dennis said, struggling to find the right words. "I feel like I need to start further back than that. When Colin was eleven, he got this letter …"

Dennis spent the better part of the next few hours explaining things and answering Patrick's questions. He promised to give Patrick some of the books that he had kept over the years to read. To begin with, Patrick seemed to be jealous of Dennis and his experience in the magical world, but eventually he realised what it had really meant.

"And that boy?" he had asked when Dennis had answered most questions about the magical world. "The woman?"

"The woman was an old Professor from Hogwarts," Dennis explained. "Dolores Umbridge. She was hated by everyone when she worked there. She's been on the run for a while now, and seems to have changed her mindset quite a bit. She got Teddy when his grandmother died. She was living with them at the time, apparently. His parents were killed in the Final Battle."

"What happened to, Umbridge was it?" Patrick asked. Dennis shook his head.

"I have no idea at all," Dennis replied sadly. He was slightly shocked to find himself concerned for Umbridge's safety, of all people.

"Rough," Patrick said with a sigh, sinking back into the couch. "Thanks for telling me."

"You kind of forced me," Dennis said with a reluctant laugh. "It's for the best anyway."

"Why's that?"

"So long as you live with me, you could be in danger," Dennis explained. "That's if you want to stay of course."

"I wouldn't even consider leaving," Patrick replied, his smile broad. "Besides, a little danger in life is great."

"Listen, Pat. If you ever see _anyone_ wearing some kind of cloak, you tell me right away. It's not likely it will be a coincidence," Dennis said, suddenly stern. "It could be the difference between life and death."

Patrick nodded, but it didn't help the feeling in Dennis' stomach.


	4. The Grass Will Be Greener

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 4**_

_**The Grass Will Be Greener**_

"_You can't always get what you want.  
But if you try sometimes you just might find,  
You just might find,  
You get what you need."  
_– "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones

_**Justin Finch-Fletchley**_

_**October 21, 2003**_

Justin Finch-Fletchley was one of the lucky ones and he knew it. When everything went down after his Sixth Year and then after the downfall of Magical Britain, he was able to escape and, unlike some others, he wasn't hunted down by the Ministry. He simply lived his life as any Muggle would normally live it, except he had no need for any job because his family had a substantial amount of money set aside for his eighteenth birthday, so he was able to live off that for the most part.

Even with that comfortable life, Justin was finding it frustrating. Most of the people he had known from Hogwarts were dead, and he had very few friends in the Muggle world as a result of the seclusion of Hogwarts during his school years. He tried to make friends in his neighbourhood, but he found it was too difficult to replace those that he had lost. As a result, he found himself reading a lot of books and even doing some writing just to rid himself of the boredom most days.

One of the good things to come out of everything was that Justin had become quite a good cook. The smell of his cooking was wafting through his house when the doorbell rang. Justin wiped his hands on a tea towel answered the door, knowing exactly who it would be.

"Hey," Zacharias Smith said as he walked into the house. He closed the door, kissed Justin on the cheek and hugged him. "Sorry I'm early. I just couldn't spend any more time with my parents. They're really on me today."

"That's fine Zach," Justin replied with a smile. "We haven't seen each other in a week. I'm just happy to have more time with you." Zach smiled, but his smile fell quickly and he groaned.

"My parents are _really_ starting to get on my nerves," he said, sitting down at the kitchen bench, watching Justin go to work. This was how it went whenever they stayed in. "They keep pressuring me to meet with Pansy. Ugh. Even if I did go that way, that is _not_ who I would go for."

Zach's parents had been pressuring him to marry Pansy Parkinson for some time now, as it was part of the new regime that purebloods marry other purebloods to make more purebloods, but Justin knew where Zach's heart really was, so he didn't feel threatened, least of all by Pansy Parkinson of all people. He struggled to remember any interaction he had with her, but he knew what she was like second-hand, and she was not pleasant.

Justin cooked silently for a moment, not really knowing what to say.

"They're even talking about a marriage contract now," Zach said gloomily.

"What?" Justin blurted out. "But you're twenty-three!"

"That's kind of the point," Zach said. "Mum and Dad seem to think that a "man my age" should be married already. They think I'm taking too long."

"So they are going to take away your freedom? Your choice?"

"Seems that way, yeah," Zach said solemnly.

"What are you going to do?" Justin asked him. Zach shrugged.

"I don't know," he replied. "I can't very well marry Pansy. When she realises that I can't even consummate the marriage, Merlin knows what will happen. I can't tell my parents I'm gay either. It might have been okay before, but there are so few young purebloods now that we have to have kids just to survive. Who knows what the Ministry would think of a perfectly virile man not fathering kids? For all I know, Macnair will execute me like he does nearly everyone else."

"Don't talk like that," Justin said, but Zach gave him a look.

"It's true," Zach said. "It could happen. This regime has done worse to better people than me. It sucks too because before You-Know-Who won, the wizarding community was actually accepting of gay people. It wasn't encouraged, sure, but if someone was gay, there was no issue. Even the big pureblood families believed in that. Unless, of course, there was a desperate need for an heir. But now it's changed and I just know that something would happen if I said anything."

"There is another possibility," Justin reminded him, checking on the pasta. Before he could continue, Zach cut him off.

"No, I can't leave," he said abruptly as he had done so many before. "You know I want to just stay with you forever, but if I left I would be hunted. I mean, they're hunting Umbridge right now! Plus, I can do so much more there than I can here. I mean, I got you and Dennis off that list remember."

Justin did remember. Two years after Voldemort took over, Zach tracked him down. By that point Zach was working within the Ministry. The only reason they hired him, at least as far as Zach knew, was because of his past connection to Harry Potter as his job was to track down anyone who survived the Battle of Hogwarts and tell the Ministry where they were hiding. When he found Justin, he helped Justin to ward his new house so that any person with magical abilities would not be able to see Justin at all and would only see what they don't want to see in the house. So if someone tracked Justin down, they would only see a young Muggle family. Zach also managed to convince the Department of Magical Law Enforcement that Justin and Dennis Creevey were dead, so any reference to them at the Ministry was removed, meaning that the Ministry no longer tracked their names at all. As a result, Justin was much freer to actually do things without fear of the Ministry at all.

"So you have to marry her then," Justin said simply. Zach looked at him with wide eyes.

"You can't mean that," Zach replied, looking slightly hurt. "I love _you_, not that bitch."

"I know you do," Justin said calmly. "I hate the idea that you have to be married to someone other than me, but it's the only thing for it. Unless you want to leave and live with me."

"I can't," Zach replied, stubbornly. "I ran away once. I can't run away again."

Justin knew what Zach was referencing. Zach ran away when the fighting got too much at the Battle of Hogwarts. Justin didn't think any less of his boyfriend, but he knew that Zach felt immense guilt over it. Justin wasn't even at Hogwarts that day, which he thought was actually worse. While sometimes he wished he had been there, he was glad that he wasn't in the long run. He had heard the stories, and they sickened him.

"Okay," Justin said with a smile. Zach smiled weakly. "As long as I get to see you more often."

"Did you really mean it? About Pansy I mean?"

"What other choice do you have?" Justin asked. "You either marry someone or you leave that world behind. Is Parkinson your only choice?"

"She's the one that my parents would prefer," Zach replied. "I mean, there are a few others that are older or younger, but it's either Pansy or Millicent Bulstrode from our year. The rest are either married, dead or on the run."

"Bulstrode or Parkinson?" Justin asked, disgusted. "That is not a good choice."

"Yeah," Zach said sadly. "What do I do, Jus?"

"I can't tell you that," Justin replied.

"Please?" Justin groaned. Justin thought for a moment. He didn't think that he had any right to tell Zach what to do, but he hated seeing him like this.

"Marry Parkinson," Justin said finally. "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't."

"What do you mean?" Zach asked.

"You could go ahead and marry one of the girls that you don't know, right? But that's the problem. You don't know them," Justin explained. "At least you know Parkinson. You said it earlier, she's not going to like that you're gay. But you could find some way to keep her quiet about it. Besides, chances are she doesn't want to marry you any more than you want to marry her. That will work more in your favour than hers."

After dinner, Justin and Zach settled down on the couch and watched television. Ever since Zach discovered television he had loved it. He constantly said that, if he could, he would buy one for his own house, but since he still lived with his parents it wasn't possible, yet alone acceptable. Zach had his head resting on Justin's shoulder. Justin could tell that Zach's mind was somewhere else since he didn't pay all that much attention to what was happening in the show, yet he didn't mention it. All of a sudden, Zach reached up and kissed Justin passionately.

"Promise you won't leave me," he said pleadingly. Justin smiled and kissed him back.

"Never," he replied, brushing Zach's blonde hair away from his face. "Why did we never do this in school again?"

"I was an arsehole," Zach said, laughing. "And you only knew what the Muggle world thinks about this."

"Are you going to stay over?" Justin asked hopefully.

"Not tonight," Zach replied. "I kind of stormed out. If I don't show up, they'll be suspicious."

"Ugh, I hate this," Justin said. He took a deep breath. "I understand. When do you think you need to go?" Zach looked at his watch.

"I reckon we've got another hour or so," Zach replied with a broad smile. Justin smiled back.

After Zach left, Justin went back to feeling alone again. He picked up his copy of "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin and started to read. Reading into the late hours of the night had become a habit that he couldn't kick. It didn't help that the books he tended to like were long and enthralling, so he found it difficult to stop. It was two in the morning when he finally decided to go to sleep. Even when he tried to, however, he couldn't sleep. He worried about Zach all the time, but Zach wasn't the only one he worried about. He knew of a few other people who escaped the grasp of Voldemort that were still alive and he worried for all of them as well. He knew that it wasn't a rational thing to do, but he did it anyway. After two hours with no sleep, he reached into a drawer and pulled out a sleeping potion, took a swig and within moments was sleeping. As usual, he found himself resolving to do something to help other people when he woke up.

It was the doorbell that finally woke him up. He looked at his clock which said that it was well after one in the afternoon, which was par for the course when it came to his sleep schedule these days. He yawned and considered just going back to sleep, but decided to just put on his bathrobe and answer the door.

The woman at the door looked familiar to Justin. She had shoulder length black hair, brown eyes and was dressed in black jeans and a button-up bright yellow shirt.

"I knew it," she said by way of greeting, a smile forming on her face. "Justin, right? Finch-Fletchley?"

"Who's asking?" Justin asked, taken aback. The woman was slightly taller than he was, but the way she composed herself made it seem like she was so much taller.

"That's a yes then," she said with a smirk. "Daphne Greengrass. Ring any bells?"

"How did you find me?" Justin asked, his hand reaching for his wand which he always kept nearby.

"Oh, don't do that," Daphne said with a laugh. She pushed through the door, past Justin and looked around the house. "If I was going to kill you, you'd be dead and you know it. Very good warding here. Clearly beyond a Muggle-born who never got through all of his Hogwarts education, even if you were particularly good. If I hadn't known any better, I would truly have believed you didn't live here."

"What the hell do you want with me?" Justin asked. He now had his wand in hand and pointed at Daphne who actually looked startled.

"I don't mean you any harm, Justin," Daphne said quickly. "Look, I'll take out my wand and give it to you, okay? I just want to talk."

"Alright," Justin replied warily. Daphne put up one hand and reached for her wand with the other. When she found it, she slowly handed it over to Justin who took it. It was longer than his own, but it was made of a different wood that Justin didn't recognise.

"All good?" Daphne asked, her eyes surveying her surroundings.

"Yes," Justin replied, lowering his wand finally. "What do you want?"

"Don't worry, only I know you're still alive," Daphne said with a smile. "No one else will show up. Turns out the Ministry thinks you're dead. Dead people usually smell worse from what I understand. Besides, I don't really like the Ministry at all."

"Why are you here?" Justin asked, getting annoyed. "You didn't just come here on a whim."

"You're in a secret relationship with Zacharias Smith," Daphne said bluntly, though a hint of a smile tinged her face. Justin was taken aback. "Yeah. Thought so. See, I've been following Smith around. I have something of a vested interest in him at the moment. Last night, he spent quite a long time here. Granted, yes, he could just have been visiting a friend, but the state in which he left this house was much rougher than when he entered, which aroused my suspicions."

Justin could feel his face brightening while Daphne winked and laughed again.

"And other things apparently. Oh, I'm sorry," Daphne said when she stopped laughing. "I'm only teasing you. May I sit?"

"Uh, yeah," Justin replied, motioning to the couch in front of the television. Daphne picked up the remote control.

"I haven't really been in the Muggle world that much, but I do love this television thing," she said conversationally. "I made Blaise buy me one when we were married. My parents were never overly fond of it, so they never got one. I just keep finding it fascinating. Plus, it's nice to see what a world that isn't ruled by a psychopath is like."

"Blaise? As in Zabini?" Justin asked, sitting on the couch next to her, one leg folded under the other so that he could look at her when she talked to him.

"Yeah. My husband," Daphne replied, setting aside the television remote. "I've been married now for two years. I thought it would be better, honestly. He only married me because the Greengrass family has been known to be fence-sitters in the past, I'm sure. That seems to be what they did to a lot of families like ours. That's why I'm here actually."

"What?" Justin asked. He hated how foolish he sounded, but he truly had no idea what was going on. "I've never had anything to do with Blaise. Not at Hogwarts, and not now."

"No, that's true I suppose," Daphne said. "It's kind of a long explanation. Blaise is cheating on me. I've known that for months now, but there's nothing I can do about it. As I said, the Greengrass family is not exactly in the good books with You-Know-Who. Granted, the Zabini family aren't amazing supporters themselves. Blaise hasn't even got the mark. But they're fervent enough supporters that, if I spoke out about him cheating on me, it would be him that they side with in the end, which would end badly for me given the accusations."

"That's not good," Justin said, with a grimace.

"I can deal with it," Daphne replied with a smile. "Anyway, I found out who he was cheating on me with. Pansy Parkinson. I never liked her when we were at school together, and she's done nothing to endear herself to me over the years. I found out that she's having an affair with Blaise. I did some digging and discovered that her family is very seriously considering a marriage contract between her and one Zacharias Smith. So, I decided that it was best to find out his intentions. I followed him around for a while to see what he does. That leads us to now."

"Right," Justin replied. "That's all well and good and everything, but why talk to me? I mean, nobody else knows about me and Zach. Why not just talk to Zach directly?"

"Let me ask you a question," Daphne said.

"Okay, go ahead."

"Does Zacharias want to marry Pansy?" Daphne asked.

"Of course not," Justin bristled.

"Exactly," Daphne replied. "Nobody does. That's why she's still unmarried. Well no one except Blaise, I suppose."

"I don't see the point though," Justin said, perplexed. "He has to marry her."

"Indeed," Daphne agreed. "If he doesn't, it'll raise suspicions. But there's a way everyone can get what they want here. You, me, Blaise, Zacharias and Pansy."

"And what is it that you want?" Justin asked. Daphne smiled.

"I want to be divorced," she said plainly. "You and Zacharias want to be together. Blaise and Pansy want to be together. We can make this happen."

"Really? How exactly?"

"If Zacharias discovers that Pansy is cheating on him with Blaise, he and I can file for divorce at the same time," Daphne responded, her smile more of a smirk. "Well, not long after each other anyway. That way, there are two parties being wronged by the same people. There's little that can be done in that situation, so the marriages will be ended. Blaise and Pansy are free to get married then."

"That actually makes sense," Justin said, impressed. He knew that Daphne was smart, so it wasn't entirely a shock to him. Other than Hermione Granger and Padma Patil, Daphne was the smartest in their year. "But there's still the issue that Zach will need to remarry."

"He'll marry me," Daphne said simply.

"He's gay," Justin said quickly. Daphne rolled her eyes.

"Really? I thought his dishevelled state last night was because you two were jumping on the bed," she said, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Then again, replace one letter in 'jumping' and it's pretty much what you were doing I would imagine."

"Okay, I get it," Justin said, his face going red again. "What do you get out of it? Going from a cheating husband to a gay one with a boyfriend doesn't seem like that much of a good jump."

"Freedom," Daphne replied seriously. "Blaise might make for a passable husband if he wasn't a cheater and didn't support a corrupt system led by a maniac. While I'm with Blaise, there are certain things that I have to do. Whenever there's an execution for example, Blaise is expected to be there, and as his wife, I'm expected to be there as well. And it is all sickening to me. Zacharias doesn't support the Ministry. I know that simply because you're still alive."

"But surely you don't want a husband who isn't even attracted to you," Justin said.

"Well, no," Daphne admitted. "When I was little, I always envisioned a handsome prince riding up to me on this beautiful white horse when I was in the most danger, saving me and sweeping me off my feet. I wanted that man. I wanted some gallant prince. But I've learned that they simply don't exist. At least not in this world. I mean, the guy who came the closest was Harry Potter, and nobody really thought he was handsome. Not anyone who wasn't looking at the Boy Who Lived anyway. Who else could have been that for me? Draco Malfoy? Theodore Nott? Vincent Crabbe? Merlin, no. And Blaise isn't either. Zacharias is not _my_ handsome prince. But no one is. Of course I want a man who loves me and can give me kids, but at least with Zacharias I won't have myself stifled. I have to prioritise. It's either stay with Blaise, marry Goyle or marry Zacharias Smith, who happens to be gay. It's an easy choice for me."

"What's my part in this then?" Justin asked. He couldn't help but feel a bit of excitement. He felt like he was actually making a difference for once.

"I can't tell this to Zacharias personally," Daphne explained. "It's too dangerous. But if I tell you, you can guide him into discovering that Pansy is cheating on him. That way, no one has to know that I've organised it all. I assume he's an Occlumens, but even the best Occlumens can only hide so much from You-Know-Who. He won't look for you in Zacharias' mind, but he might look for me. If he found out I had plotted with Zacharias, everything could be undone."

"You-Know-Who might be involved?" Justin asked. He had grown to hate using that name, but he knew that 'Voldemort' was still a Taboo word, so he never spoke it.

"It's possible," Daphne said. "If it's a possibility, we need to be prepared for it. I'm not going to take any risks."

"If you're against the Ministry, are you going to fight against it?" Justin asked. Daphne looked surprised at the abrupt change in conversation.

"Eventually, yes," Daphne admitted. "Admittedly, my sister Astoria is doing most of that right now, but I'll join in when the time is right. Why do you ask?"

"I want to help," Justin said fiercely. "I know I'm just a Muggle-born, but that is my world as well, and all I do is sit at home, reading, writing and watching television. Surely there's something I can do."

"Right now, focus on helping Zacharias," Daphne said. "After that, we can work together on it."

Justin was about to protest when his doorbell rang. Daphne jumped to her feet.

"I have to go," she said quickly. When Justin got to his feet, she hugged him before snatching her wand away from Justin's grasp. "Thank you so much. Don't even mention that I was here."

"I won't," Justin said quickly as she pulled out a piece of cloth.

"Destiny," Daphne said quickly, and she disappeared. Justin knew what it was. A voice-activated portkey. He had never used one before, but he knew the theory behind it. He went to the front door and opened it. Zach stood in front of him.

"I'm getting married," he said simply. "Next month. I'm getting married. To Pansy Parkinson. Next month."

Justin wanted to feel bad for Zach, but as he was hugging his boyfriend, he couldn't help but smile.

"It'll be okay," Justin said truthfully.


	5. Total Lunar Eclipse

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 5**_

_**Total Lunar Eclipse**_

"_Kids, your grandma always used to say to me, "Nothing good happens after 2:00 a.m.," and she was right. When 2:00 a.m. rolls around, just go home and go to sleep."_  
– Ted Mosby ("How I Met Your Mother", Season 1 Episode 18)

_**Angelina Johnson**_

_**7th November, 2003**_

"Thank god," Angelina Johnson exclaimed, sitting on the couch. "I had forgotten just how bad Fridays actually are."

"I doubt the ten year-olds were too helpful," Alicia Spinnet said with a laugh. Angelina shot her a look and groaned.

"They seem to think Friday is just the absolute best," Angelina whined. "The whole day all I wanted to do was sleep and they're all acting like it's already the weekend. All the talking and running and playing."

"You love it," Alicia said, smirking. Angelina smiled despite herself.

"I suppose I do," Angelina relented. "But teaching, not Fridays."

Angelina was living comfortably in a house with Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell in a Muggle town. They moved in together not long after the Battle of Hogwarts, which they managed to survive simply because they never entered the Great Hall at the end of the battle. Alicia had been hit with a dangerous hex while duelling a Death Eater and was obviously dying, so Angelina and Katie had stayed behind to try and save her, which they managed to do with some ingenuity and because of Katie's small knowledge of Healing due to her desire to be a Healer when she was a child. When they finally saved Alicia, all three of them knew that everything was lost. From where they were they could both see and smell the flames. It didn't take them long to flee the school, a barely conscious Alicia clinging to them for dear life.

After that, they went into hiding, fearing for their lives. They stayed mostly in motels, using what Muggle money Alicia and Katie had stowed away. Alicia's mother was Muggleborn and Katie's father was a Muggle, so they both had that money with them at all times. It was around two months after the Battle of Hogwarts that Oliver Wood managed to track them down. He didn't bring good news.

"I only got away because I was trying to move the bodies," Oliver had explained with a pained look. He was sporting a scar across his nose. "I wasn't in the Great Hall for the final confrontation, but I saw the flames. Everyone that was in there is dead and You-Know-Who has taken control of the Ministry."

"What about my parents?" Katie had asked, fear in her voice. Angelina never had that problem, as her father died when she was young and her mother was killed not long before the Battle by Death Eaters. It was clear to all of them what Oliver would say even before he said it.

"I'm sorry," he had replied. Katie, to her credit, never broke down despite looking on the verge of doing so for quite some time. "One of the Death Eaters, one of the newer recruits, Montague I've been told, swore up and down that you three were in the Great Hall when You-Know-Who set it on fire. Of course, I knew you weren't. I'd seen you all outside just before it happened. Because your names were on the list of the dead, your parents rebelled against the new order and were killed because of it. I'm so sorry."

"That sounds like them," Katie had said sombrely as Angelina consoled Alicia, who was not quite as strong as Katie in this regard. Perhaps for the first time in her memory, Angelina was glad that she didn't have her parents with her any more.

Oliver left them not long after that meeting. He told the three of them that he was hiding out with a few of his Quidditch teammates and that, because they were all counted among the alive and hadn't pledged allegiance to You-Know-Who, Angelina, Alicia and Katie should not try to contact him again. They had not tried. If there was one thing that none of them could stomach, it was the thought that someone could die because of their actions. Most of all someone they cared so much about.

Angelina used magic to trick her way into a teaching course, which she completed in four years while Alicia, under a fake name, began writing for a local newspaper and Katie began work as a bartender, hoping to find out any news at all about the magical world, but she never heard even one word as most of the clientele lived dull Muggle lives. Despite this, the three women found some form of life where none of them had even considered before. They were all mostly content.

Angelina was in her first year as a teacher, and found that she was thoroughly enjoying it. As much as she had once wished to have a successful Quidditch career, she found something fulfilling in seeing a ten year-old learn something for the first time. She doubted that she would have pursued this line of work had Voldemort not won. It was, she found, the only positive of that outcome.

"Katie finishes at eight tonight," Alicia said. "We were talking about hitting the town tonight. You want to join us?"

"Not tonight," Angelina replied. "I gave the kids a test this week and I have to mark them."

"There's always a reason," Alicia said accusingly. "Think of all the hot guys out there."

Angelina had not dated anyone for five years. It took Fred Weasley's death for her to realise how much he had meant to her, and she couldn't bring herself to even think about another man in that way since then. It was easier for Alicia and Katie. They had been in love so often it was easy for them.

"I'm well aware of the hot guys," Angelina responded, laughing. "But I really want to just get through these tests so I don't have to do them over the weekend. I really just want to have a lazy one."

"If you say so," Alicia replied with a smirk. "More for me and Katie then."

Alicia left the house around seven, saying that she would have a drink or two at the bar before they go somewhere else. Angelina said goodbye before making herself a cup of tea and settling down in front of the television to mark the tests. After a while she was beginning to feel unnerved by the quiet around her, only broken occasionally by the sound of a car driving by so she switched on the television which was showing a rerun of an old British comedy show that Angelina didn't know. She wasn't really paying attention to it as she marked the tests. Most of her students did well enough. She could tell which ones needed a bit of help, so she resolved to try and help them out where she could.

She finally finished marking the tests just after eleven o'clock. When they were completed she stood up to stretch her legs, walking to look out of the window at the front of their house. When she got there, she could see raindrops falling, visible only in the light emanating from the street lights. From their house, she could see the corner of the street. For a moment she thought she could see a man standing in the rain on the corner, but when she looked back there was nothing there. She convinced herself that it was just the rain.

She was awoken sometime after two in the morning when she heard activity downstairs. She reached for her wand quicker than she had thought possible, but then she heard voices.

"Shhhhhh! You'll wake Angelina," she heard Katie whisper loudly. There was a banging sound and then laughter. "Whoops!"

Angelina got out of bed with a sigh and headed downstairs.

"Come on you two," she said with a sigh. Katie's hair was ruffled and her shirt was at an odd angle. Alicia looked better, but still was clearly drunk. "Time for bed I think. How about some water first, though?"

When she finally got her best friends into bed, Angelina settled back down to go to sleep. This was not something that happened overly often, but it happened enough that Angelina knew what to do when it did.

The following day was quiet and uneventful. Alicia and Katie took a hangover potion, which made them feel better but they still felt tired, so they didn't do very much until Katie had to leave at six to go to work again. She did not seem pleased when she was reminded of that.

Late in the afternoon there was a knock on their front door, which Angelina answered. There was a woman, about thirty years old with a smile on her face. She had long brown hair and was quite good-looking. She was holding a basket of some kind.

"Hello," the woman said kindly. Angelina smiled at her. "I'm Wendy Fogarty. My husband and I just moved in a few houses down and we're just trying to get to know the neighbours, so I made you this."

She handed the basket to Angelina who took it. In it were some scones and a few jars of what looked to be homemade jam.

"I'm Angelina. Well, you should come in," Angelina said with a smile. "Forgive the state of the house. My friends had a bit of a night out and they've been a bit tired. Too tired to clean, it seems."

"I know the feeling," Wendy replied with a laugh. "Do you mind if my husband and son come in as well? I made them stay outside after the last one. They like to think they're comedians."

"I have a good sense of humour," Angelina replied with a smile. She could see the swamp in the halls of Hogwarts clearly in her mind. "Let them come in."

As Wendy went to get them, Angelina found Alicia, who was in her room reading. When they walked downstairs, they were greeted by a family, one of whom Angelina recognised.

"Miss Johnson?" Matt asked.

"Matt Fogarty," Angelina said. She looked to Wendy. "You must be his parents. You were right, he does like to think he's a comedian."

"You're the Miss Johnson he's been talking about," Wendy said with a smile. "You're the first teacher he has actually liked."

"Muuuuum," Matt said, poking Wendy. Angelina laughed.

"I won't tell anyone," Angelina told Matt with a laugh.

"I'm Robert," Matt's father said.

"I'm Angelina and this is my friend Alicia," Angelina replied, reaching out and shaking Robert's hand. Angelina always felt the need to stress that she, Alicia and Katie were all just friends.

"Hi," Alicia said. "So you're the people that moved in down the street? Good thing too, the last guy who lived there was a jerk."

"Well we aren't, I can assure you," Robert said laughingly.

"Where are you from?" Angelina asked after all of them sat in the lounge room. Matt looked particularly uncomfortable. _Probably something to do with seeing his teacher outside of school_, Angelina thought.

"Oh, just around here," Wendy said. "We just decided to move because we need a bigger house."

"Why's that?" Alicia asked.

"I'm pregnant," Wendy replied, beaming. "Due at the end of April."

"Congratulations!" Angelina said. She then looked at Matt. "You're going to have a brother or a sister. Are you excited?"

"A little," Matt replied shyly, which was unlike him. In class he was very outgoing. In fact, Angelina thought he might be too outgoing in class.

"That's good," Angelina said. They talked for a while longer before the family wanted to move on to the next house to say hello.

"You have to meet Katie one day," Angelina told them.

"Will do," Robert said. He was looking a bit weary as they had been visiting people all day. When they left it was raining and as she was saying goodbye, Angelina glimpsed a man on the corner again. This time, he was looking directly at the house, though Angelina couldn't make out his face because the rain had forced his long hair to fall across his eyes. She turned away for a moment to look at Alicia.

"Can you see him?" she asked, looking back at the corner. But the man was gone.

"See who Angie?" Alicia asked.

"There was someone there," Angelina said, walking out into the rain and looking up and down the street. She heard Alicia following her. "A man. He was on the corner looking right at us. He was there last night too."

"I never saw any man," Alicia said. Angelina brushed the hair out of her eyes.

"It was probably just the rain, but just in case, I think we should talk."

When they were back inside, Angelina locked the door and performed a strong locking charm on it. She closed all of the blinds, bathing part of the house in darkness.

"Angie, it was nothing," Alicia said. Angelina wasn't so sure.

"What if they've found out," Angelina said worriedly. "If they know we've been alive for five years, they won't just let us live. That isn't how they work and you know it."

"You're getting worked up over nothing," Alicia said, putting an arm on Angelina's shoulder.

"What if I'm not?" Angelina asked. "We've never really talked about what we do if the worst happens. We need a place to meet up if we need to get away quickly."

"Okay," Alicia said, not looking convinced. "We can come up with a meeting place if it will make you feel better."

"It will," Angelina said. "It would also make me feel better if you took this seriously. Have I ever led you astray?"

"I'm not doubting you," Alicia said. "I just don't see why they would have anyone scouting us. Or why they would even be looking. Since Oliver left us, we haven't had any contact with anyone from that world. No one else knows we are still alive."

"I know, but even if it was just the rain making shapes, I think we need a plan," Angelina said quickly. "When Katie gets home, we'll talk about it. She needs to be here for it as well. And keep your wand on you at all times."

"I never stopped," Alicia said gravely.

That night, the three women spent some time discussing what to do if anything happens. Katie was actually very supportive of the discussion. She believed that, even if what Angelina saw wasn't actually anyone, they needed some plan. They agreed that it was probably best if they all apparated to different places to begin with and then, after a few hours, meet up at the motel before the one they had been staying in when Oliver found them. If Oliver had been captured, he might unintentionally divulge where he found them.

Angelina barely slept that night, worried that at any point they could be under attack. She tried to be rational with herself, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't shake the feeling that what she saw was actually a man looking right at them. Only a wizard could disappear that quickly. She eventually forced herself to get to sleep by thinking of Fred's antics at Hogwarts. Her last thought was of the night of the Yule Ball, when she and Fred were two of the last on the dance floor. She had not felt so happy, peaceful and safe since that night.

As a result of her lack of sleep, Angelina found herself waking up only half an hour before midday. As it turned out, Alicia and Katie had slept in as well, which was nothing new. They were cooking bacon and eggs when she awoke. _A perfect Sunday brunch_, Angelina thought.

Angelina spent most of the day working on her plans for her class for the next two weeks, while Alicia and Katie spent their time watching television or reading. Not a lot happened until there was a rushed knock at the door just before midnight which Katie answered.

"Oh my god, what's wrong?" Angelina heard her say. Angelina stood up from the couch and moved to the front door. Wendy stood there in tears.

"Wendy, what's happened?" Angelina asked, reaching out to her.

"Matt's gone missing," Wendy said between sobs. "He went to play with some friends and they went into the woods. They lost him and went to get help. We've been looking for hours, but we can't find him. We've called the police, but they can't find him either. I don't know what to do."

The only thing that Angelina could think of was the man in the rain. _Perhaps he wasn't there for us, but for Matt_, she thought, her blood running cold.

"We'll help you," she said quickly. "We have some torches. We'll just grab them, and you can take us to the woods."

"Thank you," Wendy said shakily. "Thank you so much."

When Angelina, Alicia and Katie were upstairs, Angelina stopped them.

"Take your wands," she said quickly. "We may need them." The other two nodded quickly and showed her that they already had them. They all went downstairs and Robert, who had been waiting in the car, drove them to where the kids had said Matt was last seen.

"We'll stay here in case he comes back here," Wendy said tearfully.

"It's alright," Katie said softly. "We'll go together and we'll find him." Wendy smiled, but soon she was reduced to tears again. Angelina decided to go straight forward.

"Wands out," Angelina murmured after they had walked far enough away to not be heard. "Don't use them unless you have to."

The woods were as creepy at night as Angelina had thought they would be. She checked her watch with her torch and found that it was midnight. There was the sound of an owl somewhere in the distance.

"How do you know them?" Katie asked. Angelina shushed her.

"They're the people we met yesterday," Angelina whispered. "Matt's a student of mine."

"Oh," Katie replied quietly. "Should we yell his name?"

"If he's lost it might do some good," Alicia said. Angelina nodded.

"Matt!" she called out, and no one answered. They kept trying though. They kept on going for two hours. When it got closer to two o'clock, the moonlight seemed to disappear slightly.

"It's been two hours," Katie said. "Besides, they might have found him."

Angelina checked her watch. It was six minutes past two according to her watch. She sighed and looked at the moon, which had turned the colour of copper. She was about to reply when she heard something that chilled her to the bone.

There was a howl.

Angelina's heart started racing as her mind started piecing things together. A kid lost in the woods. A full moon. A howl.

She didn't even say anything, she just ran towards the howl, holding the torch in front of her, the light flickering from one area to the other as she moved. Occasionally she had to duck a tree branch or avoid a trunk altogether, but her natural athletic ability allowed her to maintain her footing. There was another howl, so she changed her course. She was acutely aware of her best friends chasing after her, shouting her name. Not once did Angelina look back. The only thing that she was thinking about was Matt and the wolf.

She eventually came to a clearing of sorts in the woods. The trees stopped enough to form a circle. Inside the circle was a wolf. Angelina immediately looked at the snout and tail and came to the conclusion that it was, indeed, a werewolf. Luckily she couldn't see Matt anywhere.

"Miss Johnson!" she heard a small voice yell from across the clearing. Matt had found his way into the clearing and now could likely be seen by the werewolf. Angelina could see from a distance that his clothes were torn and his face was dirty.

The werewolf turned and ran straight for Matt, who stood frozen. Angelina did not hesitate in her actions. She ran straight at the werewolf, which was now on top of the boy. With strength she didn't know that she had, she ran right at the werewolf and slammed into it with her shoulder, knocking it off of Matt.

Unfortunately, she tripped on Matt's legs and fell to the ground right next to the werewolf. She heard a low growl next to her and then sudden movement. The next thing she knew, there was a stabbing pain in her left leg. She looked down to see that the werewolf had bitten her. She was bleeding heavily from the leg and as the wolf's head came to her eye level, some blood fell directly into her eyes, blinding her. The wolf snarled and more blood fell onto her face and into her now closed eyes.

"_Stupefy_!" she heard Katie cry. The werewolf growled. All of a sudden there were several different shouts and cries followed by some thumping sounds. The wolf whimpered and she could feel it bound over her, and heard it disappear into the forest followed by fast footsteps and someone shouting.

"Angie!" Katie cried. Angelina reached down to her leg and felt a hole. She could also tell that there was a lot of blood around the wound. The pain was intense, but she had no difficulty enduring it thanks to the various Quidditch related injuries she had sustained over the years. She then felt someone holding her head and her right hand.

"Matt?" Angelina asked.

"He's got a bit of a bad scratch," Alicia said hurriedly. "He'll be fine."

"Can't you do something?" Katie asked hurriedly. It was not Alicia who answered.

"I can fix up the wound," a female voice replied. It seemed to be one that Angelina recognised, but given the immense pain she was experiencing, she couldn't think who it was.

"My eyes," Angelina said, wiping away some blood, but not enough to be able to see.

"I'll clean you up," said another female voice, slightly lighter than the first. Angelina wasn't sure she recognised it.

"This will hurt a lot, Angelina," the first voice warned.

"Can't you knock her out first?" a male voice asked. Angelina didn't know this voice, but there was something familiar in it.

"No time," the first female voice said. To Angelina she said only, "I'm so sorry."

The pain was immediate. It was like something was burning her whole left leg. She screamed and tried to move, but there was someone holding her down. Whoever it was was strong, because she was writhing, deeply in pain and yet her body didn't move much at all..

Her screams were reminiscent of the howl of the werewolf.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Yes there was a total lunar eclipse on the night of Sunday, November 9, 2003. It was when I was looking up the next full moon after the events of my last chapter I found this out. It was too good to pass up. It was only as I was writing the chapter that I realised that the 2:00am thing at the end was actually on Monday, November 10, so for the purposes of this story, let's just assume that the total lunar eclipse happened then instead of the 9th.

_**~Colin, The Master of Whisperers**_


	6. Serendipity

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 6**_

_**Serendipity**_

"_Serendipity. Look for something, find something else, and realize that what you've found is more suited to your needs than what you thought you were looking for."_  
\- Lawrence Block

_**10th November, 2003**_

Lord Voldemort sat in the ornate throne in the old Minister's office in the Ministry for Magic, the Elder Wand in his right hand pointed non-threateningly towards Fenrir Greyback, who stood resolute in front of him, his face more gaunt than usual. Greyback had never grovelled, and Voldemort found that both amusing and infuriating.

"Why are you here?" Voldemort asked calmly. He saw the guards at the door tremble, but Greyback didn't so much as flinch. Greyback seemed to weigh his words carefully before speaking, as he always did.

"As you well know, last night was the Full Moon," Greyback began, his voice deep and quiet. "As usual, I went on the prowl. Since I had that horrid wolfsbane crap I was keenly aware of everything around me. I kidnapped this Muggle kid when the idiot was playing with his friends in the woods. Before I turned, I let the little bastard go. More sport that way. He was better at hiding than I had expected. Before long a search party came for him."

"Get to the point," Voldemort warned irritably, moving his wand only slightly. Greyback nodded, but otherwise did not acknowledge that anything was said.

"Just when I caught this boy, some woman came out of nowhere and pushed me off him. I managed to take a chunk out of the woman's leg in retaliation, though," Greyback continued. This part of the story seemed to make his eyes glint. "Then I was bombarded with spells and curses. One of the earliest ones was some kind of blinding spell because I couldn't see a damn thing after it."

"Who were they?" Voldemort demanded.

"I don't know," Greyback growled, whether at himself or at Voldemort, Voldemort didn't know. "I was blinded. Someone chased me through the forest firing spells at me. It was a woman, definitely."

"One woman and you just ran away like a common mutt?" Voldemort raged. Greyback bared his yellow teeth, filed into what resembled knives.

"I couldn't see her, which would have put me at a great disadvantage," he said angrily. "I could barely even smell her. She was covering her scent somehow."

"So the Muggle child escaped, the woman who saved it escaped, and your attackers escaped?" Voldemort asked venomously. "I thought you were better than this. I should kill you right now."

"Go right ahead," Greyback responded immediately. His eyes were fierce, but he made no move at all.

"You wish to die?" Voldemort asked with a smirk.

"I have never had a wish to live," Greyback retorted. "Unlike you, I have the tiniest bit of a conscience. Not much admittedly, but it's there. Hanging by a thread now that I'm using the wolfsbane stuff."

"A weakness," Voldemort spat.

"Indeed," Greyback said. "So what's it gonna be Voldy?"

Voldemort got to his feet faster than lightning and stood face to face with the werewolf, who looked him square in the eyes. Voldemort stood there for a minute, and Greyback didn't blink even once. He didn't even move.

"No," Voldemort said finally. "You shall live. You are still useful. A few days in Azkaban. Lockhart!"

Gilderoy Lockhart strolled through the door to Voldemort's throne room, a wide smile on his face, his hair as wavy as usual. Lately he had taken to wearing a pink shirt under his robes, which showed just near his hair.

"My lord," he said by way of greeting.

"Get a few men together to take Greyback to Azkaban," Voldemort said, walking back to his throne. "Three days in one of the cells closest to the Dementors will be good."

"It shall be done, my lord," Lockhart replied with a bow. Greyback waited silently and unmoving as the men came to take him away. He didn't bother to protest or try to get away. He was just calm.

_**Draco Malfoy**_

_**10th November, 2003**_

"I have some news," Astoria said as she walked out of the fireplace, just before she cleaned herself off. "There's a rumour going around the Ministry that Greyback's attack last night was stopped by a group of witches and wizards who saved a Muggle boy."

Astoria had gotten a job in the Ministry after she and Draco encountered the Centaurs. After they got back home, they worked out that the Centaurs must know that something important was going to happen to make it necessary for Draco and Astoria to return to Hogwarts again. As a result, Astoria made the decision to apply for a job in the Ministry so that she could gather as much information as possible.

Using a few favours owed him, Draco managed to ensure Astoria a job in the Ministry as a lower-ranking member of the Invisibility Task Force. Mostly she was involved in paperwork, but occasionally she was chosen to go out into the Muggle world and clean up after witches and wizards, most of whom were working for the Dark Lord in some form. The Dark Lord had decreed that the time was not yet right to reveal themselves to the Muggle world, and so there was still a need to keep the magical world hidden. Astoria's job allowed her access to the gossip of the Ministry, while also making her look better in the eyes of those who look down at the Greengrass family.

"Who were they?" Draco asked before Astoria gave him a long kiss. Draco had spent most of the day reading books on Dark Magic his father gave him. His primary goal was to find any information that he could about the stone that the Centaur had given to him.

"No one knows," Astoria replied. "It was Lockhart who told me. The Dark Lord gave Greyback a few days in Azkaban and Lockhart was the one to organise the guards to send him there. He managed to hear more than a little bit through the door."

Draco had never been fond of Lockhart, but he did pity the man at this point. Having never fully regained his memories, Lockhart didn't understand that the Ministry was not what it was meant to be and went straight to work for the Dark Lord. He actually managed to become reasonably high up in the Ministry simply because he had no idea what was going on, which was apparently a good trait in the eyes of the Dark Lord.

"So there might be a few people rebelling?" Draco asked.

"Seems that way," Astoria replied. "It's the first time in a long time that someone has been attacked with magic, and it doesn't seem to have been anyone from our community who did it."

"Do you think this is what the Centaurs were waiting for?" Draco asked. It was the first time that something had happened that seemed even remotely like something that would seem important in the eyes of the Centaurs, given their odd natures.

"We can't really know that," Astoria reminded him. "It's better than nothing though. And it wouldn't hurt to just go and see."

"Well we should get going," Draco said quickly. "If we don't, we'll be going through the Forbidden Forest at night. Trust me, I've done that once and I never want to do it again if I can help it."

"There was another thing," Astoria interrupted.

"What's that?" Draco asked, picking up their transcript of what the Centaurs had said to them, which they had worked out was a prophecy.

"We're invited to Pansy Parkinson and Zacharias Smith's wedding next week," Astoria said, scrunching up her nose.

"Poor guy," Draco said. He didn't know Zacharias Smith very well, but he would feel bad for any man who ended up with Pansy. "Well, we'll have to go. Two purebloods getting married is an important ceremony, unfortunately. It's expected of us."

"We'll have to get them a gift," Astoria said thoughtfully.

"I'll give Smith some poison. He's going to need it," Draco joked. Astoria smiled.

"I don't think that would go down too well," she said with a laugh.

"That's kind of the point," Draco pointed out and the two of them shared a laugh.

With the stone and the transcript of the Prophecy safe in his mokeskin pouch, Draco apparated away. This time they didn't need to apparate to Hogsmeade because the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest weren't covered by the anti-apparation ward. When they arrived, they could see a group of Centaurs in the tree line, watching them. As they approached the tree line, not one of the Centaurs moved. At the front of the group was the same Centaur that spoke the prophecy to them.

"Draco of House Malfoy," the Centaur said as they drew closer, "and his beloved Astoria of House Greengrass. The Centaurs welcome you once again. I am known as Bane."

"Can we assume that this is when we are to go into Hogwarts?" Draco asked. Bane nodded.

"We shall escort you through the forest today," he said, his eyes looking to the starless sky. "It has been foretold that you are important. We Centaurs rarely involve ourselves in the issues of Man, but of late we have observed a shift in authority. It seems as though the human race has need of us in ways that once were unnecessary. Once we would have ignored the signs, but we have become somewhat enlightened following the Battle of years past. The new regime is no friend to Centaurs. Come."

Another Centaur with red hair and a red beard came closer to Draco, picked him up with his strong arms and sat him on Bane's back. A different Centaur did the same for Astoria, who was sat astride the back of the red-headed Centaur. It was only then that the group of Centaurs started to move forward, slowly at first, but soon almost all Draco could hear was the sound of hooves on the Forest floor.

Draco had his arms around Bane's torso, holding on for dear life. He looked over and saw that Astoria was even more terrified than he was. He wanted to hold her, but he couldn't. He told himself that it would be over soon just as they came to a sudden halt.

"Grawp!" Bane cried out.

In front of them, Draco saw a giant. It was not the first giant he had ever seen, but it was odd to think that one resided in the Forbidden Forest. He was beginning to understand Dumbledore's warnings even better than he had in school. The giant, who was definitely short by the standards set by other giants it seemed, was playing with a three-headed dog which stood at least as tall as Draco, if not taller.

"Bane," the giant, Grawp, grumbled loudly.

"Grawp, go to the other Centaurs," Bane said loudly. "Tell them that _they_ have arrived."

Grawp nodded.

"Fluffy?" he asked simply. Bane sighed.

"Yes, you can take Fluffy," he said loudly. Grawp clapped his hands together and picked up the three-headed dog, putting it under his arms before bounding deeper into the forest, his footsteps booming. "Continue!"

The galloping began again, but within a minute they came to the edge of the forest. When they did, Draco dismounted and looked up at Hogwarts for the first time in five years. It was surprisingly intact. Legend has it that the Dark Lord returned to the castle the day after the Battle and restored it back to its former state with a simple wave of his wand. While Draco was sceptical of this, he couldn't think of any other way in which the castle would have been returned to its original state so quickly and easily.

"We shall leave you here," Bane announced as Draco dismounted. When he did, he saw that they were near the oaf's hut. "We will be here when you return."

"Thank you," Astoria said shakily as she got down off the other Centaur.

"Any hints?" Draco asked, knowing the answer.

"We cannot help you further than we already have," Bane replied, his face stoic. "We may be becoming more involved in the world of Men, but there are still some limits."

Draco said nothing as he took Astoria's hand and started to walk towards the old castle. He found that they were walking slower than he would have expected. There was a large part of him that did truly want to be back at the school just to see it again. He felt a deep connection that he didn't believe would go away and to actually think of not seeing the school seemed unfathomable to him. It was odd, as well, to be at the school when no one else was there though. It was as if there was no life to it anymore, and Draco felt oddly saddened by that thought.

"Where do we start?" Astoria asked as they reached the large oaken doors to the castle.

"The library might be best," Draco said thoughtfully as he opened the doors with ease. There had to be a charm on them to make them so easy to open. "That will take forever though. We don't even know what the stone might be."

He and Astoria had spent weeks looking into the stone, but they had found nothing. As far as the two of them could tell, no books had anything about it, or the symbol carved into it, within and it was frustrating. They had tried everything with it, from setting it on fire to simply rolling it around in their hands like a die. Nothing seemed to have any effect on it, and it was becoming intensely frustrating.

"We could try the Headmaster's office," Astoria suggested. Draco nodded.

"I'd forgotten about the portraits. If there's anyone who would know what this thing is, it'd be someone who actually ran Hogwarts," he said, impressed. He hadn't given the portraits any thought beforehand.

It took them some time to navigate the halls once again as the five years had numbed their memory somewhat. As they moved about the castle, they soon noticed how empty it actually was. Not only were there no students about, but they didn't spy a single ghost, and all of the paintings in the halls had been vacated. Soon they came to the entrance to the Headmaster's Office, guarded still by the large stone gargoyle. Draco and Astoria looked at each other.

"May we please gain entrance?" Astoria asked the gargoyle, which did not move or give any indication that it would ever move.

"Let us in," Draco said sternly. Nothing happened.

"Please, it's important," Astoria said in her sweetest voice, but the stone gargoyle ignored her.

"Move!" Draco shouted, his voice echoing down the halls. The gargoyle finally moved, but it was only to shake its head.

"There's nothing to be done," Astoria said. "We can't get in."

"I suppose we just go to the library then?" Draco asked.

"Or we could try to get into Ravenclaw Tower. They have a library as well and I've been told that …" Astoria couldn't finish, because she saw that Draco had remembered something.

"The Room of Requirement!" he said loudly, grabbing Astoria's hands. She looked confused.

"The what now?" she asked. Draco laughed.

"The Room of Requirement," he said. "I've used it before. It is a room that gives us whatever you require. I used it when I was plotting against Dumbledore."

"How is it helpful right now?" Astoria asked.

"We can ask it to show us the portrait of Dumbledore," Draco said, pulling Astoria down the hallway. "It might not work, but it has given me everything else I've needed before. This way we can talk to Dumbledore. He's really the only one we need."

Soon they arrived at the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy, and Draco began pacing. _I need to talk to Dumbledore's portrait_, Draco thought to himself while he was pacing. He kept thinking it until he looked up to see a door had formed in the wall. Draco took Astoria's hand and opened the door.

The room inside was small, consisting only of a deep red, velvety couch directed towards a large portrait of a sleeping wizard with a long silvery beard, long silvery hair and a crooked nose. As Draco and Astoria sat on the comfortable couch, Dumbledore seemed to awaken. When Draco looked at him, the old man was smiling, his eyes managing to have a sparkle even in painting form.

"Draco," he said happily. "And miss Astoria Greengrass I suspect. It is nice to have visitors for once. Although it does seem that I'm not in the Headmaster's office anymore."

"It's the Room of Requirement," Draco explained. Dumbledore nodded.

"I'm not Astoria Greengrass anymore, Headmaster," Astoria said timidly. "Draco and I wed in June."

"Ah, well congratulations," Dumbledore said jovially. "I only wish I could have been there. May I ask why you didn't go to the Headmaster's Office?

"It wouldn't open for us," Astoria told him.

"Of course," Dumbledore said, as if he had forgotten something and just remembered. "Unless you are the current Headmaster you need a password, which you don't have."

"There is no current Headmaster," Draco said drily.

"Indeed," Dumbledore agreed. "From what I've gathered, when Severus Snape was Headmaster he made it so that, in the event of his death, Harry Potter would be treated as acting Headmaster."

"Potter died," Draco said, surprising himself in how sad his words sounded.

"I gathered as much," Dumbledore said sadly. "Why is it you have summoned me?"

"We have something that we don't understand," Draco said, reaching into his pouch and pulling out the stone. "We were hoping that you could shed some light on what it is."

Draco could tell that Dumbledore recognised the stone the very moment that Draco showed it to him. There was an odd look on the face of the portrait of the old man.

"How did you get that?" Dumbledore asked curtly. With what little Draco knew of the old man, this seemed out of character.

"The Centaurs gave it to me a little over a month ago," Draco replied, equally as curtly. He did not appreciate Dumbledore not being forthcoming.

"The Centaurs?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes widening. "How on Earth did they get it?"

"Can you tell us what it is?" Draco asked impatiently.

"It is the Resurrection Stone," Dumbledore said, not skipping a beat. "One of the three Deathly Hallows."

"The Hallows are a myth," Draco replied with a derisive snort.

"They are not," Dumbledore replied calmly. "I once possessed each of the three, though never all at the same time. I assume you have noticed the mark on the Stone?"

"That has been what has puzzled us most," Astoria said, looking at the mark.

"It is the mark of the Deathly Hallows," Dumbledore explained. "Depending on what you believe about the Deathly Hallows, the mark is either something created by the Peverell brothers, or by Death himself. Personally, I believe it was the Peverell brothers."

"So you're trying to convince me that this Stone is supposed to bring back the dead?" Draco replied. "If I remember correctly, and I think I do given how much my mother told me that damn story, you have to turn it thrice in your hand. Well, I can't tell you how many times I've done that."

"I've done it too," Astoria put in. "Nothing happened."

"Have either of you lost a loved one before?" Dumbledore asked. Astoria shook her head immediately. Draco shook his after contemplating Crabbe. "No. The Resurrection Stone brings back loved ones. You two have not had someone you love die, as such it could not work for you."

"Even if you're right," Draco said. "Why did the Centaurs give it to me?"

"That is curious," Dumbledore said, leaning back in his chair. "When they gave you the Stone, what did they do?" Draco looked at Astoria, who nodded. Draco took out the parchment.

"We think they told us a prophecy," Draco said. That got the old man's interest, as the face in the portrait came closer. "_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord survives through failure, and died in victory. Fire, blood, death. Life. The Turncoat, the Soft-Hearted Manipulator, the Survivor, the Teacher, the Outsider. The Brother, the Face-Changer, the Hunted, the Conspirator and the Believer. Different paths and different lives. Saving and changing. Choices. The wand, the stone, the cloak. Time. The old men and the young women. The train hasn't even left the station. You are only just beginning. O Children. Rejoice …_"

Dumbledore took some time to process this.

"Unfortunately, as a portrait, I can't really think this over rationally," he finally said. "Everything I know came from myself when I was alive. I know of prophecies, as I had been involved in some over the years, but I can't do much with the new information. The first line is all that seems in any way familiar to me. It is similar to another prophecy, one that has already been fulfilled it seems."

"So you can't help us with it?" Draco asked. Dumbledore shook his head.

"Not a great deal," he admitted. "Though you would be wise to look into the other Hallows. They appear to be somewhat important. The Centaurs never did anything that wasn't important."

"How do we do that?" Astoria asked. "We couldn't even work out that we had the Resurrection Stone."

"I take it you have considered the Hogwarts library?" Dumbledore asked. Draco nodded. "I would not bother if I were in your place. I was reading up on them while I had the Invisibility Cloak I never returned them, so they're locked in the Office."

"Well what's the password?" Draco asked. "We'll drop in and pick them up."

"I don't know," Dumbledore admitted. "Severus changed it not long before his death, and I don't know what it is. He also put up anti-summoning wards which, even though he has apparently died, are still going today."

"Well what do we do?" Draco asked, annoyed.

"There is one place you might be able to get some information," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "The old Black Household. I can't reveal to you where it is, unfortunately. It is under a Fidelius Charm. I was the Secret Keeper when I was alive, but I am not any more. You will have to find someone who knows."

"Who would know?" Draco asked.

"Any of the Order of the Phoenix, though I suspect they're all dead are they not?" Dumbledore asked. When Draco nodded, Dumbledore closed his eyes. Draco thought the older man might cry. "Severus mentioned to me that Tarquin Yaxley managed to get there. If so, that makes him a Secret Keeper by proxy."

"Yaxley is alive," Draco confirmed. "I can ask him."

"If you can get there, the Black family had a vast and dark library," Dumbledore explained. "Look for the Peverell name. Any information about them will be useful to you on this issue."

"Thank you," Astoria said, smiling.

"It is no problem Mrs Malfoy," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

"I never liked you, Dumbledore," Draco said bluntly, Dumbledore continued to smile. "But I must admit, you have been helpful. I give you my thanks."

"And mine to you," Dumbledore told both Draco and Astoria who looked at the old man curiously. "These days I get so few visitors, and those dusty old Headmasters can be incredibly boring. Though it is amusing when they attempt to play poker." Astoria laughed and Draco feigned a smile.

As they left the Room of Requirement, Astoria suggested they visit the dungeons to see if it was at all possible to get into the Slytherin Common Room. As she was at the school before the Battle began, she knew the password, but she wasn't sure if it had been changed somehow afterwards. When they reached the end of the passageway, Astoria spoke the password.

"Dark Lord," she said, with a hint of disdain in her voice. No one knew just what took the password to get in, but some mechanism had to be in place, because a passage was revealed, which Draco and Astoria followed.

The Common Room was much the same as it had been when Draco had attended Hogwarts. It was like a dungeon, and was tinged with green as a result of the lake outside the thick glass windows. Everything around them Draco knew was paid for by alumni of Hogwarts who wanted the best for the future students, something that was being wasted at that point.

"Wait here a minute," Astoria said before making her way towards the dorm rooms. Like in every other Common Room, if any male tried to enter the female dorms, something would prevent them. So Draco stayed in the Common Room, looking over some of the more intricate items on a table nearby. He couldn't help but consider just staying in the Common Room for the rest of his life. As much as he enjoyed living at Spinner's End, nothing came close to being as much as a home to Draco as the Slytherin Common Room, and it seemed a waste that it was sitting there, uninhabited by anyone or anything besides the odd spider or two.

When Astoria returned, she had with her an old diary of hers and her trunk, which she had shrunk so she could carry in one hand.

"We never had a chance to grab everything when we left," Astoria explained. "They just kind of made us leave, and no one ever came back. I don't think any of my clothes will fit me now, but they might come in handy."

They spent a little more time in the Common Room before finally leaving. They made their way back to the front of the castle. By that time it was dark outside, and the forest loomed in the distance. The Centaurs were true to their word and were waiting at the edge of the forest.

"I hope you found what you were looking for," Bane said as Draco was lifted onto his back.

"It was not a wasted trip," Draco confirmed.

The Centaurs did not stop on the return trip and soon Draco and Astoria were at the edge of the forest once again. The Centaurs watched as Draco and Astoria apparated to Malfoy Manor, where they were greeted by Draco's parents. Lucius seemed genuinely happy to see them, though Narcissa was never happy to see Astoria.

"Mother, I was thinking about the Black side of the family," Draco said. His mother's eyebrows raised slightly.

"What about them?" she asked, not unkindly.

"Seeing as I am, technically, the heir to that House, I was thinking I should have a look around the traditional Black home," Draco said, only partially lying. "I may even move in there should I like it more than Spinner's End."

"I would tell you where it is if I could," Narcissa said, "but I cannot recall the location of the house. All I know is that Dumbledore was using it as the Headquarters for that Order of the Phoenix nonsense. He probably used a Fidelius Charm. As such, I can't reveal the location."

"Wait a moment," Lucius interrupted. Draco wanted to smile, but kept his face even. Astoria, he noticed, did the same. "I remember Yaxley mentioning once that the Granger girl accidentally led him there. I don't remember the exact location, but he would know."

"That would be fantastic, Father," Draco said enthusiastically. "Could you call Yaxley here? I would be very grateful."

"No need for gratitude," Lucius replied. "You are the heir. It is your birthright. I'll Floo Yaxley immediately."

Within minutes, Yaxley was standing in the living room of Malfoy Manor. His face was hard and blunt, but he had a smile that made him look extremely sinister. Though he was beginning to go bald, he continued to keep his blonde hair tied back into a ponytail.

"The Order of the Phoenix's headquarters is located at Number 12, Grimmauld Place," he confirmed to Draco. Draco asked him to write it down, which Yaxley did. "The name is fitting. Grim and old is how I'd describe it. But I'm sure it will suit your needs."

"I do hope so," Draco said with a smile. "My thanks Tarquin."

"It is nothing," Yaxley replied. "If you don't mind, my wife is requesting that I actually help her with dinner for once. She is insisting that she wants to give it a go without the help of the Elves. Crazy."

Lucius and Narcissa laughed obligingly, while Astoria and Draco allowed just a smile.

"It's getting late," Narcissa said when Draco and Astoria were preparing to leave. "Grimmauld Place can wait, surely."

"It could, yes," Draco said, kissing his mother's cheek. "But I'm curious now. I doubt I could sleep without seeing it immediately."

Astoria also kissed Narcissa on the cheek, as was her custom whenever she and Draco left their company. Draco knew that his mother did not enjoy it, but he also knew that she would never state it explicitly.

They soon arrived at where Draco knew Grimmauld Place was. He and Astoria looked at the buildings in front of them with great interest.

"I can only see Numbers 11 and 13," Astoria said.

"I see the same," Draco replied. He knew that it had to be there. After Yaxley told them where it was, his mother confirmed the location herself, having spent a considerable amount of time at the house herself as a visitor as Walburga Black, her aunt, had lived there with her husband Orion. "It has to be there. Mother confirmed it."

"Well, we're not seeing it," Astoria said.

"But we know it's there!" Draco said loudly. "Yaxley told us the location. It's there!"

"Draco, dear, I know that," Astoria said, grasping Draco's arm. "There's something else at work here."

"Damn Yaxley," Draco ranted loudly. "And damn the old fool Dumbledore! Sending us on a fool's quest. Even when he's dead he can't stay out of our lives. We're trying to do something good here and we can't even get that right! What are we meant to do if we can't get the books we need? Go back and talk to the damned portrait again? Ask the Centaurs?"

"I'm not happy about it either," Astoria said quietly. "But you need to calm down a bit. It's late and people might hear you."

"Screw the people!" Draco said angrily. "What are we meant to do? Are we meant to just –" He stopped as something floated down from the sky in front of his eyes. It was a scrap of parchment. Draco reached out and grabbed it roughly. He read it in the light of a nearby street light silently to himself, something his father had taught him to do very early on in life.

_The Hiding Place is located at Number 12, Grimmauld Place_.

The writing was slanted and in cursive, though it was obvious that it was written in haste. Astoria took it from him and read it to herself as well.

Draco looked up and he could see Number 12 as clear as day. Where nothing had been before, there was a house, so close to 11 and 13 that they were touching. Number 12, however, lacked the care and attention that went into Numbers 11 and 13.

"We have to be careful," Draco said quietly, drawing his wand. He watched as Astoria drew hers.

"If they were dangerous, they wouldn't lead us in this way," Astoria pointed out.

"If they're insane they might," Draco said. He advanced on the house slowly. After some time, he reached the front door. He reached for the door handle slowly. It was cool to the touch as he pushed open the door. Barely anything could be seen in the hallway as they entered into it, wands drawn.

"_Lumos_," Astoria murmured, causing her wand to light up. What Draco saw at the end of the hall defied belief.

There stood six people, all with their wands out and pointed at Draco and Astoria. Four women and two men. Draco recognised almost all of them, but stared at them in complete and utter disbelief. _The dead have come to haunt me_, he thought to himself irrationally.

The two tallest were at the back. One was a beautiful woman with long silvery-blond hair, and the other had a scarred face, with long red hair. In front of them stood a small woman with waist-length blonde hair, a taller woman with long red hair, a muscled man with a weather beaten face and short red hair and, finally, a woman with a stern face and bushy brown hair.

"Granger?" Draco asked, the disbelief dripping from his words as he dropped his wand on the ground and raised his hands.


	7. Survival Instincts

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 7**_

_**Survival Instincts**_

"_Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends."_  
\- Gandalf (J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Fellowship of the Ring")

_**Charlie Weasley**_

_**2nd May, 1998**_

Not long after his mother had managed to somehow best and kill Bellatrix Lestrange, much to everyone's shock, Charlie Weasley watched, along with everyone else in the Great Hall at the time, as Harry Potter and Voldemort duelled one another for what would be the final time. Charlie stood with his parents, Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Luna Lovegood as the two most important wizards in the world fought for control. It was not a particularly intricate duel, truth be told. Harry mostly taunted the dark wizard, goading him into acting foolishly, which did work to a point.

Voldemort eventually fired a Killing Curse at Harry, and Harry fired back a Disarming Charm. The simplest of manoeuvres. Charlie couldn't help but wonder if Harry should have used something different. Somehow the two spells collided together, lighting up the entire Hall and blinding everyone within for just a moment. When the light disappeared, everyone was able to see the sickening moment that Harry was hit directly in the chest by the green jet of light. Charlie, and everyone else in the Hall, watched Harry Potter's body fly backwards and land on the ground with a thud. What followed was a stunned silence.

"Love," Charlie heard Voldemort spit out when Harry's corpse hit the ground. "_LEAVE_!" he bellowed, his voice somehow echoing off every wall in the castle. The Death Eaters in the Great Hall managed to apparate away, despite the defences surrounding Hogwarts, leaving Voldemort standing there with a frightening grin on his face.

The Hall was silent as Voldemort waved his wand silently twice. The second wave caused a torrent of fire to erupt from the end. He stood there just long enough for the Fiendfyre to begin to consume everything within the Great Hall before finally apparating away, a disappointed look on his snake-like face.

Charlie, who had worked with dragons for so long and was long since aware of what to do around fire, acted purely on instinct. Within the space of less than a second he recognised that they were going to be consumed by fire in an extremely confined space. He whirled on the spot and pointed his wand at the wall closest to him.

"_Bombarda Maxima_!" he shouted loudly, though his voice was drowned out by the screams around him. Charlie roughly grabbed Ginny's arm and thrust her through the hole he had created. He did the same with Luna, and Hermione made her way through the hole herself, realising what Charlie had done. Charlie looked back at Ron who was trying to move his mother and father towards the hole in the wall. Charlie could tell that his parents were too transfixed by everything around them and would not, despite Ron, leave their spot.

"RON!" Charlie yelled as loud as he possibly could. "LEAVE THEM!"

Ron turned and Charlie saw for the first time in his life that his youngest brother was crying, the tears flowing freely. Ron ran as quickly as he could towards the hole in the wall. Behind Ron, Charlie saw his parents get swept up in the flames. Charlie jumped through the hole himself and ran towards the girls, who had gotten a fair distance away. He turned just in time to see Ron, who had almost reached the hole, be engulfed by the flames as well. The flames never left the Great Hall.

When he reached the girls, they were all in tears. Ginny looked at him expectantly, but Charlie could do nothing but shake his head. His little sister fell into his embrace, reminding him of when she was much younger. The four of them stood there for what seemed like hours until Ginny remembered something.

"Bill and Fleur!" she said hastily, the tears drying on her face. "They weren't in there."

"What?" Charlie asked, sickened by the burning smell that was reaching their noses. "Why not?"

"Bill was hit by a curse in the battle," Hermione said quickly, wiping away her tears. "Fleur stayed behind to help him."

"We need to find them," Ginny said fervently. Charlie shook his head.

"You three need to get to Shell Cottage," he said seriously. "It's safe for you there, and you all know where it is. I'll look for Bill and Fleur. Where were they last?"

"Near the History of Magic classroom," Hermione said. Charlie nodded.

"Go to the gate," he told the three girls. "Apparate from there. Hermione, you'll have to take both Ginny and Luna since neither of them can apparate yet. Can you do that?" Hermione nodded immediately. Charlie kissed Ginny on the forehead and turned and ran for where he remembered the History of Magic classroom was. He found Bill propped up against the door to the classroom and Fleur hovering over him. Bill saw him first.

"What's going on?" he asked drowsily. "What happened? What's burning?"

"We need to go," Charlie said, helping his brother to his feet.

"What 'as 'appened?" Fleur asked pointedly.

"Voldemort killed Harry," Charlie said simply, trying and failing to keep the emotion out of his voice. "Then he set the Great Hall on fire."

"Mum and Dad?" Bill asked suddenly, his eyes now wide open and wild.

"No," Charlie replied quietly. "George was in there too, but I don't know where he was. Same with Perce. I got Ginny, Hermione and Luna out. Ron almost made it out."

For the first time in a very long time, Charlie witnessed his brother truly weeping.

"We're going to go to Shell Cottage for now," Charlie told Bill and Fleur. Fleur, who was holding Bill up on the other side nodded appreciatively. She was obviously upset, but she was a Veela, so she knew how to control her emotions when necessary. Emotions could be dangerous for even those with a little Veela in them.

The three of them made their way to the gate as quickly as possible. As they walked, they saw several bodies on the ground, none alive. This worried Charlie a great deal, but at the same time he felt it might be for the best, as there was no one around to see them leave. When they were outside of the gate, he looked to Fleur.

"I'll take Bill," Charlie said. Fleur nodded and was gone in a second with a pop. Charlie clutched his sobbing brother around the waist and turned on the spot. It was not the first time he had apparated with another person, but he had never done it with someone who didn't at least help the process a little bit. When they landed, he found that they were in the living room of Shell Cottage. The dizziness from the apparation caused him to fall to the ground with Bill falling backwards into the couch behind him.

Charlie sat up and looked around the room. Fleur had swiftly made her way to Bill's side, her eyes only now filling with tears. Ginny was sobbing into Hermione's shoulder. Hermione was no better. Luna was sitting on the floor in front of one of the armchairs, her knees drawn up to her face and her head in her hands. Charlie felt himself fall back to the ground again and he, too, found himself weeping.

* * *

_**Ginny Weasley**_

_**7th May, 1998**_

Shell Cottage was too small. This had become apparent to everyone after the first night there. It had only three bedrooms for six people. Ginny and Hermione slept together in a double bed, Bill and Fleur slept in another, Luna slept in one by herself unless she was having particularly bad dreams when she would usually join Hermione and Ginny and Charlie had taken the couch downstairs.

No one in the house had said anything about it though. Not that a lot had been said at all. The Weasleys had lost both of their parents and four of their brothers all in the same day, Hermione had lost most of the people she loved in the world and Luna had lost some of her best friends. The feeling of loss completely overshadowed the fact that Voldemort had won. In fact, Ginny rarely found herself thinking about that fact. All she seemed to be able to think about was Harry being hit by that hideous green curse and the smell of the Great Hall burning. The sickening smell of people she loved burning and screaming.

Four days after they had returned to Shell Cottage, Fleur decided that it was best to call on her family in France and inform them of what had happened in Britain. Bill offered to go with her, but Ginny could tell that he would not be the best thing for Fleur's family to see, and it seemed that Fleur agreed. Bill was clearly taking everything the worst out of all of them. Ginny suspected that most of it stemmed from guilt over not actually being present when everything happened.

Somehow, Fleur managed to look as beautiful as ever even after so much had happened. Ginny wanted to feel some kind of resentment towards her sister-in-law, but she knew the truth. Fleur was feeling as bad as anyone else in the house, she was just less likely to show it. Even if someone is part-Veela they are taught early on in life how to avoid emotional stress. If they weren't, the results could be catastrophic.

Fleur had been gone for almost a full day. In the meantime, Hermione and Luna stepped up to the plate and put together the meals for the day. Most of the group could hardly eat. Charlie was the only one that didn't eat a thing. Ginny knew why. When he saved them all from the fire, he had stayed behind while she, Hermione and Luna ran. _He must have seen them burn_, Ginny thought to herself, bringing tears to her eyes once again.

When Fleur returned she looked relieved. She told them all about what the French magical government was doing to hold back the threat of Voldemort. Her parents decided that the Fidelius Charm would be best for their home. Fleur, however, could not convince them or Gabrielle that Gabrielle should be tutored at home, as opposed to attending Beauxbatons. She was worried, and Ginny silently agreed, that Voldemort would attack another school like he did with Hogwarts. Her parents had not relented, so Fleur had visited with Madam Maxime who assured her that the very best people that the French Ministry could spare would be stationed at the school and that there are safety protocols in place should an attack happen.

"She told me," Fleur said to the group, "that Beauxbatons would not fight against You-Know-Who. They will force everyone to flee if ze worst 'appens."

Everyone in the room nodded, but no one spoke.

"My parents 'ave also offered to let us live with them," Fleur said tentatively.

"No," Hermione said vehemently. "No. I won't leave Britain until I see that bastard's rotting corpse at my feet and those that follow him locked away or dead."

Ginny nodded along with all of the other people in the room, even Luna. Fleur smiled.

"I 'ad guessed," she said.

"We can't all stay here," Ginny said, voicing everyone else's thoughts. "It's too small for six people."

"We have nowhere else," Hermione pointed out. This was the most she had spoken since the Battle. "We can't go to the Burrow. It's not safe enough. Luna's house is in ruins. Hogwarts wouldn't be safe. Someone else is living in my old home."

"What about Grimmauld Place?" Charlie asked. "I wasn't there much, but it's big enough." Hermione shook her head.

"I accidentally took Yaxley there when we were on the run," she said. Ginny noted that she was avoiding saying Ron and Harry's names. "The Death Eaters can get at it."

"Fidelius," Bill said quietly. It was one of the rare moments where Bill spoke. The last few days he mostly sat in silence.

"Yes," Hermione confirmed. "I'm a Secret Keeper by proxy, so Yaxley knows now."

"No," Bill said, his eyes filling with life for the first time since everything happened. "We do a second Fidelius charm. Whenever someone does one, they make the boundaries of it a bit further than they strictly need to. Erring on the side of caution."

"Is there room to make another big enough?" Hermione asked, with a shade of her old self. If Ginny had felt physically able, she might have smiled.

"I think so," Bill said. "I know how to do the charm. I did a few for the Order."

"Will you stay with us?" Luna asked, interjecting herself into the conversation for the first time. Bill looked at Fleur.

"I think eet would be for ze best," Fleur said. Bill nodded. It seemed to Ginny that it didn't matter either way to him. Ginny felt that she would prefer to have her brothers with her at all times. She wanted to know that they wouldn't die.

"I'll check it out now," Charlie said immediately. Everyone started to protest but he shook his head. "If there's someone there, I'm the least important person to be lost. I know a lot about dragons and fire, but I'm not great at everything else. I know that. The rest of you are better at more practical things."

"Apparate onto the front step, open the door, use _Homenum Revelio_ and apparate out," Bill said seriously. "Don't take any chances. If no one's there, we'll all go there and I'll set up the new Fidelius."

Charlie nodded, stood up and turned on the spot. Ginny watched him disappear, fearing that she would never see him again. She sat there, wringing her hands. A minute later, Charlie reappeared again with a slight popping sound.

"It's clear," he said. Ginny hugged her brother, much to his surprise.

Not long after that, they all made their way to Grimmauld Place. Charlie went first again. Bill went next with Ginny, who wished she knew how to apparate. Fleur followed them, and then Hermione came last with Luna. Just to make sure that everything was safe, Charlie, Bill and Hermione all performed the revealing charm again, which came up negative. After that, they entered into the living room area, where Ginny saw a familiar face.

"Kreacher!" Hermione said in surprise.

"You live," he said, surprised. "Kreacher knows that Master is dead, but you live."

It was the first time anyone had fully said out loud that Harry was dead, and it hit everyone in the room hard. Ginny's heart broke just a little more.

"Y-yes," Hermione said shakily. "We need to stay here. It's important."

"Kreacher will serve you," Kreacher replied after a moment. "Mistress was good to Kreacher, and Kreacher remembers."

Not wanting to waste any time, Ginny watched as Bill got ready.

"This is going to take a lot out of me," Bill said, raising his wand with his right hand and extending his left. "Probably more so since there's already an existing Fidelius on the house. Who's going to be the Secret Keeper?"

"I will," Hermione said without any hesitation. Ginny agreed with the idea. If there was anyone who would never betray them, it would be Hermione Granger. Even if she had the Cruciatus curse given to her by ten people, she wouldn't say it. Of that Ginny was sure.

"Fine," Bill said. "Take my hand. You need to really think about what this place is, and where it is. That all comes from you. I'm just doing the wards essentially. When this is over, I may pass out. If I do, make sure that everyone knows exactly where they are. If they don't, it could be problematic."

"I will," Hermione confirmed. Ginny wondered if Hermione already knew all this from her reading, but it was possible that the Fidelius was far too advanced, even for the Hogwarts library. Hermione was good, but Ginny knew that even she had her limits.

For the next five minutes, Bill spoke a stream of words incomprehensible to Ginny. Occasionally she would see something come from the end of his wand, like the air around a fire. Ginny watched on unblinkingly. When he finally completed the incantations, Bill looked at Hermione and smiled before his eyes closed and he fell to the floor.

Bill didn't wake for nearly a week.

* * *

_**Bill Weasley**_

_**28th May, 1998**_

"There's only so much we can do without money," Bill Weasley told the group. "We need to get some somehow."

When Bill had awoken, he found that both Fidelius charms were in good health, which had been a great relief to him. He had been sure that he could perform the charm even though one already existed, but there was still that niggling feeling of doubt that even a Curse Breaker couldn't shake away. He had not expected that he would be out cold for as long as he was, but it was a price he was willing to pay for the safety of the only people he had left in this cold, harsh, unforgiving world.

Now, having exhausted the supplies of food they found within Number Twelve, they were looking to other avenues just to survive.

"I can go get a job," Hermione insisted.

"The Ministry will be looking for your name everywhere, even if they think you're dead," Bill pointed out. "A Hermione Granger working in the Muggle world would be too conspicuous."

"I'll use a fake name," Hermione said fervently. Bill shook his head.

"If you did that, you would be exposing yourself to being seen by anyone and everyone," he said. "If the wrong person saw you, you would be dead in a heartbeat."

"Well what's your plan then?" Hermione asked stubbornly. "Stealing from innocent people?"

"No," Bill replied shortly. "Gringotts."

"I've broken in there once, and I have no plan to do it again," Hermione said, annoyed. Bill rolled his eyes.

"I used to work there," he pointed out. It seemed to dawn on Hermione. "I have friends who work there. I know for a fact that Harry left everything he owned to our family in the event of his death. I filed the paperwork on that one. There are two vaults full of money we could have access to. Harry's and the Black family's. Not to mention the Weasley vault, although that one is, admittedly, a little small."

"Wait, the Black family's vault?" Ginny asked aloud. Bill nodded.

"When Sirius did up his will, he left everything to Harry," he explained. "Since he was, technically, the heir to House Black, Sirius owned the family vault. He deliberately left that to Harry, though I don't know if Dumbledore told Harry this. Either way, Harry left everything of his to us."

"But Gringotts will be under his rule," Charlie said. Everyone in the room knew who he was talking about. Bill nodded.

"By this point I imagine so," he replied. "But I know the goblins better than most. None of them want to be ruled by anyone. Under the Ministry, they were not entirely happy, but they had no reason to rebel as they had done in the past. They know who he is, and they oppose him, I assure you. I can meet with Rokbarl. He liked me well enough when I was there and he's high enough to get us Muggle money, but not so high up that he would ever be targeted."

"You _are_ a Gryffindor, right?" Ginny asked. Everyone laughed, which Bill thought was a sweet sound.

"A lot of Curse Breakers are Slytherin," Bill said with a shrug. "You pick things up from time to time."

Fleur was extremely opposed to Bill going to Gringotts, but he insisted on going. When she had realised that he would not relent, she offered to accompany him as well. Bill only smiled.

"Most men find it difficult not to look at you," he said. He kissed her. "I want to not be seen and you would most definitely be seen."

The following morning, he apparated into Diagon Alley right on the steps leading up to Gringotts. Barely anyone was around, but Bill kept his hood up nonetheless. He knew that the doors to the bank would be closed this early, but having worked there he knew a thing or two about it. He went to the side of the building, and touched a brick with his wand. The wall moved apart, revealing a side door which he opened. He was slightly surprised to see that he was still keyed into that particular entrance.

The room he found himself in was familiar to him, as he spent most of the time he had worked at Gringotts in this room. It was a small room, full of tables and chairs. On one chair sat a lone goblin.

"William Weasley," the goblin said, unsurprised.

"Hello Harrock," Bill said in reply courteously.

"You are supposed to be dead," Harrock said bluntly. "I see the facts are greatly exaggerated. Though those of your run-in with Fenrir Greyback were not." Bill touched his face and smiled.

"It's not so bad," he said. "A few raw steaks every now and then and I'm golden. What makes you believe that I was dead?"

"You-Know-Who released a list of the dead from the Battle of Hogwarts," Harrock said, throwing a newspaper to Bill. "It's all in there. I won't ask how you survived. Not my problem. Why are you here?"

Bill looked at the newspaper, which had an image of Voldemort on the front page, something that shocked Bill. Somehow he had never imagined Voldemort's face ever being in a newspaper.

"I need to see Rokbarl," he said. He somewhat trusted Harrock, but he felt that Rokbarl was better suited for the job. Harrock nodded and left the room. Bill sat down in the old chair he had once occupied and waited until Rokbarl showed up. The conversation went much the same way as with Harrock, but soon came to the point.

"I need money," Bill told Rokbarl.

"This is strictly against the new regulations, you understand?" Rokbarl said. Bill nodded.

"Regulations that I'm sure you goblins are not very fond of," Bill replied.

"Indeed not," Rokbarl said, malice in his voice. "It seems as though we are only still alive because he needs a bank. I never thought I would see the day that the goblin community would wish to have Cornelius Fudge again."

"Can you help me?" Bill asked. Rokbarl nodded.

"I'm just going to assume that you will be needing the money in Muggle currency?" he asked and Bill nodded. "From all three vaults?"

"Weasley, Potter and Black," Bill confirmed. "It might be best if we could empty them."

"In that case, there may be something simpler we can do," Rokbarl replied. "Before the downfall of society, we were working on a way for people who have need of Muggle money to have better access to it more easily. We took the idea from Muggle credit cards."

Rokbarl reached into a desk and pulled out a card of some description. He put it into a box, put his hand on top and closed his eyes for a few moments. When he opened them, he reached in and pulled the card out again.

"These are designed to be used within the Muggle world wherever it is possible," Rokbarl said, showing Bill the card. "It can also be used in Muggle Automatic Teller Machines to take money out if cash is necessary. It will simply be deducted from the vaults here at Gringotts. If you wish to see how much you have remaining, simply tap the card with your wand and say the word 'total'." Bill took out his wand.

"Total," he said and a number came up on the back of the card in black. Bill almost fainted. "Bloody hell."

"The Blacks were very wealthy," Rokbarl said with an ugly smile. "And the Potters were quite well off as well. It will always show up in Galleons, though when used at one of those Muggle machines, it will show how much is left in Muggle currency."

"And all the money here is safe?" Bill asked. Rokbarl nodded.

"You-Know-Who attempted to gain access to the Black family vault soon after _informing_ us of his new regulations, but we told him specifically that the vault is not accessible to anyone but the rightful owner," he replied, with another smile, baring his somewhat sharp teeth. "I think that it must not be all that important to him, because he didn't even kill one of us when he was told."

"But could he get at it if he tried?" Bill asked insistently.

"It is possible, yes," Rokbarl said reluctantly.

"What if I had all the money from the Potter and Black vaults transferred into the Weasley vault?" Bill asked. The goblin smiled again. "He knows that the Weasley family was poor, so he wouldn't go looking there."

"Impressive," Rokbarl replied with a grin showing his sharp teeth. "It shall be done. Was there anything else?"

"Is there any way that I could get the _Daily Prophet _every day without anyone knowing?" Bill asked, holding up the paper in his lap. "It might be good for me to have it."

"You aren't alone, are you?" Rokbarl asked with a sideways look. Bill smiled.

"I wish I could tell you," he said. Rokbarl nodded.

"I will leave a copy outside of that door every morning," Rokbarl said as kindly as a goblin could. "You can pick it up from there. It's very out of the way, and if you keep your hood up you won't be noticed."

"Thank you Rokbarl," Bill said sincerely, shaking the goblin's hand. "For everything."

When Bill returned to Grimmauld Place, he told everyone everything. When he showed them the total of how much money they had access to, it was the happiest moment they had had since the Battle. Not that that was saying a great deal.

* * *

_**Luna Lovegood**_

_**27th August, 2000**_

The two years following the Battle of Hogwarts had been somewhat long for the six occupants of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Luna Lovegood, in particular, found it difficult to acclimatise to life away from her home or from Hogwarts. It did help that Hermione and Ginny were there, and it was nice to have others there as well, though Bill and Fleur were spending increasingly large amounts of time at Shell Cottage. They always showed up in the morning, because Bill would always have the _Daily Prophet_. When he finished reading it, Hermione was always the first to read it herself.

The _Prophet_ had changed substantially since Voldemort took over. Rita Skeeter, much to the chagrin of Hermione, had taken over as Editor of the newspaper, and everything they printed was so obviously done with a political bias, which was to be expected given the way Voldemort ran the Ministry. Most of what was written in the newspaper was information regarding any and all executions taking place, as well as changes within the legislation of the new Ministry. It also managed to announce with great pride whenever someone new took the Dark Mark and became an "elite member of the Dark Lord's Death Eaters". Not a single mention of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack could be seen anywhere, which upset Luna.

In fact, she had begun to get upset whenever she thought of all the old creatures that she and her father used to look for. She did not know at all what had happened to her father. Hermione told her that he was likely taken by the Death Eaters when he tried to turn her, Harry and Ron in to Voldemort. If that was the case, Luna assumed that he was likely in Azkaban which chilled her to the bone. After Voldemort took over, he stationed the Dementors back at the prison and the thought of her father having the happiness sucked out of him over time, made her cry on several occasions. She sometimes just assumed that he was dead. She found it much easier that way.

Every so often, there would be an announcement of an execution of someone that they knew. In September of 1998, Oliver Wood was executed along with some of his old Quidditch teammates. In April of 1999, Susan Bones was due to be executed, but she managed to somehow get away and there had been no word of her since. The _Prophet_ had expressed outrage over her getting away, but did not give details. In December that same year, Augusta Longbottom was found and executed by Voldemort himself. The Longbottom family had been one of the most prestigious lines in wizarding history, and it did not surprise Luna that Voldemort would find great pleasure in extinguishing it like he believed he had done to the Weasley family line.

Most recently, only a month prior, the Ministry found Professor Trelawney holed up in her office in the Divination Tower of Hogwarts. No one had known how she had remained there so long undetected, but she had nonetheless. Again, Voldemort himself was involved in that particular execution. Hermione suggested that it was likely because she was the unlucky soul to voice the prophecy that almost led to the downfall of Voldemort himself.

Luna woke early, as she usually did, and found Ginny studying a book in the kitchen. It was a book that they had found in the extensive Black library, which focused on Healers. For the last year, Ginny had immersed herself in the art of Healing, which was probably for the best. As a group they had decided early on that there was not much they could do as they were, so they decided to learn everything they could before deciding to actually take on the Ministry again. Everyone was learning a bit of everything, but they all were quickly drawn to something that they were more interested in.

Bill spent most of his time focusing on the spells that most Aurors used, even some spells that could potentially be considered dark. As a Curse Breaker, they came easier for him than for anyone else. Charlie focused on offensive spells, even going so far as learning how to cast the Killing Curse. He had done it successfully several times when there was no particular target, and he had told the group that it was the second worst feeling he had ever experienced. No one had to guess what the first was. Hermione focused on defensive spells and history, which she kept telling everyone was extremely important. Fleur focused her efforts on charms, becoming very proficient very quickly as she was already fantastic at most everything. There was a reason why she was the Triwizard Champion for Beauxbatons. Ginny found that she was drawn to healing, even though it was somewhat less helpful for them in the state they were in. There had been a surprising number of books on the subject in the Black library. Luna's specialty was different. She did spend some time on Transfiguration spells, but she found herself reading up more and more on the subject of Divination, something which the others did not fully understand or, Luna believed, appreciate.

While Ginny read her book, Luna started breakfast with the help of Kreacher. He would have done it on his own, Luna did not doubt, but she liked to help him. The House Elf was old, but loyal. Technically he was now owned by Bill, he being the eldest Weasley, but Kreacher would do anything for the others as well. They had found a supermarket nearby where they bought everything they could possibly need. Because it isn't very far out of the way, everyone agreed that it was safe to go there. Number Twelve was not being watched since there was no reason for it to be inhabited at all.

As a result, the ancestral home of the Black family had been turned into a much more welcoming home that even Muggles could have lived in. Hermione had even suggested a television, which went over well. Of course, the painting of Walburga Black was not very accepting, but Bill had found a spell in one of the books he was studying from that allowed him to remove the painting from the wall. They stored her in the attic, with several thick sheets covering her. The only time they could hear her was when it was particularly quiet, and even then her screams and protests were barely recognisable.

Luna heard the fireplace in the living room flare up. This was usual as there was only a link between Number Twelve, Shell Cottage and Fleur's parents' home in France, which Bill had set up to get around the Ministry restrictions. Bill and Fleur were the only visitors they ever had apart from Gabrielle from time to time. When Bill walked in, he had a grave look on his face.

"You need to see this, Luna," he said sombrely. Luna gave the spatula to Kreacher as she took the paper from Bill. On the very front page was a headline that made her heart fall.

_XENOPHILIUS LOVEGOOD DISCOVERED AND EXECUTED_

_by Rita Skeeter_

_Yesterday afternoon was a momentous occasion for the Ministry of Magic as there was an execution of a major criminal who, up until this point, had been on the run after escaping the grasp of Death Eaters when being escorted to Azkaban prison._

_Xenophilius Lovegood, the insane former editor of _The Quibbler_, was found guilty in 1998 of misleading the Dark Lord into believing that he knew something about the whereabouts of then-fugitive Harry Potter. Lovegood used the taboo word to summon the Death Eaters, claiming that he had Potter with him. When they arrived on the scene, no sign of Potter could be found. As a result, he was arrested and taken into custody._

_Lovegood was held by the Death Eaters until the day following the successful "Battle of Hogwarts", when he was due to be moved to Azkaban prison to serve a life sentence, along with sixteen other captives. Whilst they were being moved, Lovegood escaped the grasp of an unnamed Death Eater and managed to apparate away. Since that day, Lovegood has been in hiding from the Ministry._

_Yesterday, Lovegood led an attack on the Ministry with twenty other conspirators. The group of hardened and violent criminals managed to kill three innocent civilians and injured well over a dozen before they were apprehended. The Dark Lord himself oversaw the execution of the twenty conspirators, the vast majority of whom were Muggleborns who had gone into hiding following the implementation of new laws in 1997. The Dark Lord himself executed Lovegood, ending that particular family line, as he has done with so many before._

_With the death of Xenophilius Lovegood, the new Undesirable No. 1 is now escaped criminal Susan Bones._

_FOR AN IN-DEPTH LOOK, SEE PAGE 9_

"I'm so sorry Luna," Bill said, putting an arm around her. Luna looked at the article, tears forming in her eyes. Ginny took the paper for herself and read.

"I thought Daddy was dead anyway," Luna said, her voice wavering. "It's … It's nice to know for sure."

She broke down then, crying into Bill's shoulder.

After a while, there was silence in the kitchen. By that time, everyone was awake and there.

"We actually have an announcement," Bill said when Luna was finished crying.

"I'm pregnant," Fleur said, a smile on her beautiful face. Luna even smiled.

* * *

_**Fleur Weasley**_

_**3rd May, 2001**_

Fleur Weasley lay in her bed in her childhood home in France. Next to her sat her husband and father of her newborn baby girl. Fleur was looking at the intensely beautiful face of the one day old baby that she could scarcely believe was her own. There was no denying whose child she was, however. She had been born with exactly the same hair colour as her mother, and whenever Fleur looked at her, there was something of Bill in her as well. She could barely stop looking at her, and when she did it was to look at Bill, who Fleur knew was looking at their baby girl with exactly the same awe and love.

It was an instant reaction for them. The pregnancy had gone off without a hitch and the birth was presided over by Ginny, who had read as much as she possibly could on the subject, with the help of Fleur's mother Apolline. Bill, Hermione and Luna had also been with Fleur when it happened. Charlie had decided that it would be best to stay with Fleur's father, Alphonse, who was never good with this kind of thing, and Gabrielle, who Apolline declared was too young for such things even though she was almost fifteen.

Bill and Fleur were alone at that moment though, and were basking in the glow of their newborn baby. They had not yet decided on a name. They had tossed around a few. Molly. Nymphadora. Minerva. As much as Fleur liked those names, they didn't seem right to her. There was something about naming your child after a dead person that felt like it was tempting fate, no matter how much that person meant to them. She could tell that Bill felt the same way as well.

"'ow is she?" Gabrielle asked. She had appeared in the room seemingly silently. Fleur and her parents had decided to speak in English while everyone was with them as it made things easier. Fleur beamed at her little sister.

"She is an angel," Fleur said. In the years since the Battle, Fleur's accent had all but disappeared. "Would you like to hold her?" Gabrielle nodded and moved to sit on the bed next to Fleur. When she did, Fleur softly handed the baby to her.

"Watch the head," Bill said kindly. Fleur knew that he was worried, but he was always so good with Gabrielle that she knew he would never show it. Gabrielle shifted her arm so that the baby's head was at a good angle.

"She needs a name," Fleur said to Bill as she put her arm around him and hugged him close.

"How about Victoire?" Hermione said from the door. Fleur looked up at her with an upraised eyebrow. "I know a little French."

"Don't you think that's a little … wrong given the day she was born?" Bill asked Hermione. Even though it had been the anniversary of the downfall of wizarding society, no one had thought all that much about it with the baby coming.

"I think it's perfect," Fleur said, reaching over and touching the baby's check. "She is not named for the downfall, but for the victory to come."

No one spoke for a while, but Bill squeezed her.

"We will win," Fleur said softly. "We must. For Victoire."

* * *

_**17th July, 2003**_

For the second time in her life, Fleur was looking at a newborn baby that she couldn't believe was her own. Louis Weasley was the perfect baby boy, with the Weasley family hair and freckles, but with Fleur's facial features. She was sitting in a lounge chair with Louis in her arms and Victoire next to her. Victoire was entranced by her baby brother almost as much as her mother was.

Fleur and Bill and discussed, following the birth of Victoire, what they would do about future children. Both had been worried about what would happen to their children in the world that they found themselves in. They were worried enough about Victoire, let alone another child. But, eventually they realised that they couldn't allow Voldemort to dictate their lives. They both wanted children, and there was no way they would let one man change that.

And so it was that they had their second child, a healthy young boy. This birth seemed to be easier than the first. Fleur knew that it was mostly because she had gone through childbirth before, but she also couldn't help but recognise how well Ginny was doing. When Fleur announced that she was pregnant the first time, Ginny had immediately researched childbirth so that she could help in any way she could. The first time, Apolline had been there to help her, but this time Fleur had not been in France and Ginny had to deliver the baby all by herself, and she had done a wonderful job.

As they had with Victoire, Fleur and Bill had discussed several names. Mostly names of men they had lost. Arthur. Fred. George. Percy. Ron. Harry. The list went on and on, with no end in sight. In the end, they had decided on the name Louis. Fleur had learned all about the history of France, and the name Louis had always stuck with her for that reason. Bill had agreed straight away, with no hesitation.

When she was getting ready to take Louis to see his grandparents and aunt for the first time, Luna came to her. Luna brushed her finger along Louis' cheek lightly.

"He is very beautiful," she said airily, in that way that she had. Fleur nodded.

"He is perfect," she agreed.

"Today was my Daddy's birthday," Luna said, slightly sadly. "I always remember because Daddy never did. I had to keep reminding him."

"I'm sorry," Fleur said. Luna smiled.

"It's okay," she replied. "It's not Daddy's birthday anymore. It's Louis'. That is more important now."

With that, Luna made her way out of the room. Fleur was not sure how to react to that.

* * *

_**Hermione Granger**_

_**6th November, 2003**_

"I put a tracking spell on him," Bill told Hermione. Fleur was putting the kids to sleep and Luna, Ginny and Charlie were all watching television.

"It was definitely Greyback?" Hermione asked. Bill nodded.

"I am absolutely certain," he said, pointing to his scars. "I definitely remember the man who gave me these."

"What a day to decide to go into Diagon Alley," Hermione said, impressed. "This is the first thing we've been able to do in years."

"Greyback is only a cog in You-Know-Who's plan," Bill pointed out. They had still not worked out whether or not the taboo worked when a house was under the Fidelius charm, so they didn't take any risks.

"Yes, and if we stop one cog from working, the whole thing stops," Hermione said. She was positively giddy with excitement. Over the years the bloodlust that she had felt following the Battle of Hogwarts had gotten less and less, but Hermione had not forgotten the atrocities she had witnessed.

"We kill him?" Bill asked. He snorted. "It's what he deserves. The amount of people he's attacked over the years is beyond counting by this point."

"No," Hermione said. "Harry wouldn't have killed him. I know he wouldn't have. Neither would Dumbledore. All we have to do is make life difficult for him, and he'll start to give up."

"I think you might be underestimating him," Bill put in. "This is Fenrir Greyback. That thing has no conscience. If he does, it's been buried under so much blood that it would drown itself if it tried to get out."

"As eloquent as that is," Hermione teased, "even Greyback can get annoyed. If we stick with it, maybe he'll stop. He has the power to influence almost the whole werewolf community. Certainly the ones that are sided with You-Know-Who. If he stops, maybe that stops more siding with him."

"I don't know about that," Bill said sceptically. "He attacked me when he wasn't even in his wolf form. For him to have to resort to that … it's unthinkable."

"It's more than we've been able to do for the last five years," Hermione said angrily. Her eyes were blazing, and her heart palpitating. Bill sighed.

"We'll give it a go," he said finally. "But it's not going to be just you. I'll come with you. So will Charlie, Ginny and Luna. Fleur will go to her parents', at least this time. When's the next full moon?"

Hermione called in Ginny, Luna and Charlie. They were discussing it when Fleur came downstairs. She took some convincing, but she came around to the idea of having to stay at her parents' home in France. The others, after the discussion, went in to watch television. Charlie stayed behind. Hermione put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Thanks for the support," she told him. He smiled.

"I couldn't very well disagree with you, could I?" he asked, earning him a slap on the arm. A playful slap, but a slap nonetheless. Hermione and Charlie had come to form a strong bond in the last year or so. Hermione knew that it was likely because of the conditions they were in, but she couldn't deny that the feelings were there.

She often wondered whether it had something to do with the fact that she lost Ron. Even though it was never official for either of them, Hermione knew that she and Ron would have ended up together, only Voldemort had gotten in the way. In the end, however, she came to the conclusion that, as much as she loved Ron, she was not in love with him. Her feelings for Charlie were entirely different, so she rarely, if ever, felt bad because she felt was replacing Ron with him.

Over the next few days, they refined their plan. They knew that Greyback was planning to attack a Muggleborn boy since Bill had followed him whenever he could. Bill had found Mad-Eye Moody's old invisibility cloak and put it to good use. Every night, Greyback seemed to go to the same street corner and watch the same house. Bill had reported to Hermione that the house was home to a new family in the neighbourhood and that they had a young boy, Matt.

"Shouldn't we warn them?" Ginny asked, concerned for the little boy. Hermione shook her head, although she was concerned as well.

"We have to take him unawares," Hermione explained.

"Besides," Charlie said, "what exactly would we say to them? 'Hi, we're secretly magical and we have reason to believe that your son will be mauled to death by a werewolf with a bloodlust for small children'? I'm sure that would go down well."

"No need for that," Ginny said sourly. Charlie smiled.

"Just a joke, Ginny dear," he said, sounding a lot like Fred and George, Hermione thought. "I thought the mood could be lightened is all."

The afternoon of the full moon, there was a slight hitch.

"Hermione," Bill said, coming into the room with a concerned look on his face. "Tonight wouldn't happen to be a total lunar eclipse would it?"

"I think it is, actually," Hermione replied. She was reading a book about werewolves, but closed it. "Why do you ask?"

"Okay, bit of a problem," Bill said worriedly. "A total lunar eclipse plays havoc with spells like the tracking spell. No one knows why, but when it happens, the spells go haywire. In the hours leading up to the eclipse, the spell goes in and out of working. As it gets closer, it won't work at all."

"Oh god," Hermione said, her heart racing quickly. "Can you tell where he is right now?"

"Last I checked he was somewhere in the woods near the town," Bill said. "I'd be willing to bet that's where he'll stay. He will want the kid to be found in the morning. That's how he is."

"What do we do?" Hermione asked, panicking. "Do we go now?"

"Too risky," Bill said. "If we go now, Greyback's bound to notice one of us. He knows what all of us look like, except for maybe Charlie. Daytime is bad for us."

For the following few hours, Hermione was a nervous wreck. Prior to her talk with Bill, she was so sure that they had the upper hand, but she had not counted on her own oversight being their downfall. Charlie tried a few times to calm her down, but she only snapped at him. She felt bad about that afterwards, but he didn't look upset or angry. He actually kind of smiled.

When the time came, they saw Fleur and the kids off as they took the Floo to France. After that, they all disapparated and appeared on the street where Bill had seen Greyback those few times. The sun was only just setting as the five of them walked towards the woods near the town.

They were there for a while with no sign of Greyback. Bill confirmed that, when the full moon rose, he couldn't tell where Greyback actually was, so they had to rely on their own skills. After a while, they heard other people arrive. They hid in the shadows and watched as the police and some of the locals started a search of their own. Luna stepped forward.

"Oh, hello," she said quickly. Within a second she had a gun pointed at her. "We're here to help." She gestured and Hermione moved quickly into sight of the others, followed by Bill, Charlie and Ginny.

"Who are you?" A woman asked. Hermione guessed that it was the boy's mother, just based on Bill's description.

"We're travelling through," Hermione said. "We overheard someone talking about a child being lost in the forest, so we thought we would help. We didn't know who to tell, so we just went about it."

"Oh, thank you!" the woman cried. "My son is out here somewhere. Please find him!" Hermione was suddenly very grateful of a mother's love for their children, because she was also very aware of the gun the policeman were pointing at them.

"We'll try," Luna assured her. Hermione didn't know how, but Luna's words seemed to calm the woman.

"We're going to go that way," Charlie said, pointing to the west. "We will come back if we find anything." The policemen nodded, and the family looked relieved. When they were on the move again, Hermione turned to Charlie.

"Why this way?" she asked. Charlie pointed at the ground. The ground was somewhat ruffled, as though someone had been through that point.

"Someone's been here," Charlie replied. "Could be anyone, but it's all we've got."

They searched fruitlessly for hours, and sooner than Hermione had expected, it was two in the morning. Hermione was feeling horrid by that point. She could have warned the parents, but instead she just had to target Greyback. She could have prevented this. In her mind she could see the mangled body of the boy, who looked eerily like Harry did when they first met. Greyback was there in her mind as well, blood dripping from the wolf's mouth as the boy was still as stone. She shook her head as tears came to her eyes.

Suddenly there was a howl. It wasn't close, but it was something.

"Shh," Bill said, and everyone stopped. "Follow me, but don't go too fast. You'll make too much noise."

There was another howl, closer this time, but from a different direction. Bill gestured and they followed. They came to the clearing just in time to see a dark-skinned woman run at the wolf, who had pinned down a little boy. She shoulder-tackled the wolf, but tripped and fell and in a flash, the wolf was on her, biting at her leg. To their right they heard someone scream.

"_Stupefy_!" the other woman yelled, and the spell hit Greyback, who backed off a little.

After that, everyone in their group pointed their wands at the wolf and fired off whatever spell came to mind. For Hermione it was the conjunctivitis curse, which blinded Greyback. The other spells hit him, and he scampered off. Hermione ran over to where the woman lay on the ground, blood coming from the deep wound on her leg. To her great shock, she saw that it was someone that she had known from Hogwarts. Angelina Johnson. She also quickly noticed that Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet were there as well. For some reason, this angered her more.

She ran off in the direction that the wolf had scampered off. When she saw it again, she fired another curse at it. Then another one. And another. Each spell was more violent than the last. She kept doing firing curses until Bill finally caught up to her and grabbed her around the waist. She swore as she watched Greyback run away into the distance. Hermione wanted to chase after him even more, but Bill pulled her away and apparated them both back to the clearing.

When they got there, Hermione calmed down enough to survey the scene. Angelina's wound had been closed, likely by one of Ginny's many potions or salves. She was, however, passed out. Luna was holding the bawling ten year old who had a rather nasty looking scratch on his arm. She ran to Charlie, who held her.

"We need to get her to Grimmauld Place," Ginny said seriously. "I've closed the wound, but it will be painful for her when she wakes up. Hermione, do you have the address?"

Hermione pulled the piece of paper out of her beaded bag and gave it to Ginny.

"We are putting a lot of trust in you here," Ginny told Alicia and Katie very seriously. "Don't betray us."

"We won't," Alicia assured her. Ginny handed over the piece of paper.

"Memorise that," she said. She then looked to Bill. "I need the portkey. We won't be able to apparate her there." Bill gave it to her, and Ginny counted down. "Three, two, one." She was gone in an instant.

"Charlie, can you get these two to Grimmauld Place?" Bill asked. Charlie nodded, squeezed Hermione once and then went to Alicia and Katie.

"Apparate with me," he said, taking both of their arms. "I know where to go, but it'll help if you two help me." They nodded and in a swift second they were gone, leaving Hermione with Bill, Luna and the sobbing little boy.

"We're going to need to keep him under observation as well you know," Bill told Hermione. "It looks to be just a scratch, but you never know."

"I know. We'll just tell his parents everything we should have told them in the first place," Hermione responded with a pained look on her face as she looked at the deep cut on the boys arm that Ginny had not had time to heal. "And we should do it quickly. Greyback could be headed for them as we speak. Can we get something to try and stop his arm from bleeding?"

Luna took off her jacket and cast a cutting spell on one of the sleeves.

"I just need to tie this around your cut," she told the boy kindly. He nodded and Luna tied the arm of her jacket around his arm as best she could. Bill then took Matt from Luna and hoisted him up. He apparated with Matt to an area he knew was close to where the boy's parents would be. Hermione and Luna did the same.


	8. Trust and Understanding

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 8**_

_**Trust and Understanding**_

"_Trust is like a mirror. You can fix it if it's broken, but you can still see the crack in that mother fucker's reflection."_  
\- Lady Gaga

_**Draco Malfoy**_

_**10th November, 2003**_

"Kick your wands to us," Granger said quickly. Draco kicked his over to the dead woman who bent down and picked it up. His hands went back into the air once again.

"We won't be able to see," Astoria pointed out, her wand still in her hand.

"_Lumos_," Fleur Delacour said quickly. Draco knew it was Fleur. It could only be her. Draco watched as Astoria put her wand on the floor and then kicked it to Granger as well. When she had pocketed the two wands, she looked back at them.

"Safety precaution," she said simply. "Can I assume that you both only have the one?"

"Yes," Draco replied. It had not ever occurred to him how useful having two wands would be. He would have to file that one away for later. Ollivander was still around.

"Charlie, frisk them anyway," the tall red-head that Draco couldn't remember the name of replied. He was a Weasley. In fact, all three red-heads were, Draco was sure of it. He just could never keep their names straight. Not that he had tried particularly hard in the past, given what he thought of them. The muscled red-head walked over and patted Draco down. Old instincts almost made Draco kick at him, but he knew it wasn't what needed to be done in the situation. Charlie did the same for Astoria, though Draco noted that it was with a somewhat kinder and gentler hand than had been used for him.

"They're clean," Charlie said. "Except the pouch that Malfoy has."

"I'm sure there's nothing nefarious inside it now is there?" Granger asked, sounding incredibly like McGonagall had done all those years ago. Draco found it annoying, but not as annoying as he once had. He remembered the rage he had felt for Granger during his Hogwarts years.

"Nothing nefarious, no," Draco replied calmly. "So, what are you going to do with us?"

"We aren't going to hurt you," the taller red-head said.

"Just a little bit, Bill?" the female redhead, Ginny, Draco thought it was, said jokingly. She was the youngest of the Weasley family, Draco knew. Draco had never really known much about the Weasley family except how large that it was and that there was only one girl out of so many children.

"I'm afraid not," Bill replied.

"How did you survive?" Astoria asked. She and Draco still had their hands upraised.

"In due course," Granger said. "You can lower your hands. We heard you mention Dumbledore. You saw his portrait then?"

"Not all that long ago," Astoria responded, lowering her arms. "He sent us here to look for some information in a few books. The Black family library is said to be very extensive."

"And dark," Granger agreed. "I should know, I've about read them all."

"_You_?" Draco asked incredulously. There was something about someone of Muggle birth even having access to the Black family library, of all things, that unnerved Draco even then.

"Yes, me," Granger replied, an annoyed look flashing on her face. "If we wish to fight the Dark Arts, we must know what they are. It sickens me to read some of the things in those books, but I do it nonetheless. I would never practice such things."

"Can we at least come out of the hallway?" Draco asked after a pause.

"Yes," Granger said reluctantly. "But be warned. We have guests. And if you could try and not be overly loud, that'd be great. The kids are in bed."

"If you wake them up, you'll have me to deal with," Fleur warned, though Draco thought he sensed some humour in her tone. He silently wondered just how many kids there were and who they belonged to. Fleur had to be one of the parents at least. Why else would she say that?

"Some of our guests are Muggles," the Lovegood girl said suddenly. Draco had almost forgotten that she was still there.

"Muggles?" Astoria asked, an eyebrow raised.

"We saved their son from Greyback last night," Charlie explained.

"That was you?" Draco asked, somewhat impressed.

"Yes it was," Charlie said. "Matt was scratched, so we're going to keep him under observation. Even Muggles can be werewolves, or at least have the traits."

"Muggles and children?" Draco asked, almost daring to smile. "Quite the operation you have here. Anything else we should know?"

"When we got to Greyback, we found Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell," Granger said. Draco's eyes widened. "I see you recognise the names. Angelina was bitten by Greyback. Ginny closed her wound, but she hasn't woken up yet. She will, unfortunately, be a werewolf until a cure is found."

Draco and Astoria were led to the sitting room where only two other people sat. Draco recognised them from the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They were not happy to see him, judging by the looks on their faces. Draco thought that revulsion was closest to what the looks were. When reassured that he and Astoria were not armed at all, they seemed to be calmer, though still wary.

"Wendy and Robert are upstairs," Granger explained. "They're the Muggle family. They had a long night last night, and they've been quite overwhelmed by everything."

"You actually told them?" Draco asked. He wasn't entirely shocked, but it did surprise him slightly because he was not used to Muggles knowing about anything from the magical world.

"We thought it best," Bill said. "Their son was almost killed, after all. It isn't like the Statute of Secrecy matters much anymore anyway. Not to the extent that it once did."

"Why are you here?" Granger asked bluntly as Draco sat next to Astoria on one of the many couches. He wondered if they were always there, or if someone had conjured or transfigured them. He did see a few things that he thought were Muggle around the room, which didn't surprise him. Granger was Muggle-born and the Weasleys were known supporters of Muggles. "You spoke with Dumbledore's portrait. Why?"

"We do owe you an explanation," Astoria said before Draco could speak. He thought it was probably for the best. He didn't have the best track-record with talking to Granger. He couldn't really be sure that he wouldn't revert back to the way he was at school. "I'll keep it short. We don't approve of the Ministry or of the Dark Lord anymore."

"And yet you call him the Dark Lord," Ginny pointed out.

"Wouldn't you if you had to do everything he wants?" Draco almost snapped. "It's either follow him or die these days, and most people would rather live under his rule."

"Exactly," Astoria said, patting Draco's hand. He knew what it was. It was almost as if she was shouting at him to tone it down. "Anyway, back in September we tried to get to Hogwarts, but we were stopped by the Centaurs. They told us the time wasn't right, gave us a prophecy and a gift and we left."

"A prophecy?" Lovegood piped up.

"Forgive us," Astoria said, "if we're not entirely ready to trust you with the full thing."

"It's enough to know there was one," Bill said before anyone else could speak. Draco could see that he was probably the most level-headed of all of them there, something that Draco was pleased to note.

"Anyway, we decided to go back there today," Astoria continued. "It was Greyback's story that made us go there. He has no idea who it was who attacked him, or who he attacked, so don't worry. You haven't been discovered."

Astoria told the rest of the tale, including mostly everything that happened. When she was finished, the others all looked thoughtful.

"Could be lying," Charlie said to the others in the room.

"I heard them mention the portrait from my room," Granger pointed out. "They had no reason to mention it then."

"A portrait Dumbledore is more easily fooled than the real one," Charlie responded. He turned to Draco. "You said you went there to talk to him about the gift that the Centaurs gave you. It might help us if we knew what it was."

"They gave us a stone," Draco said. He had been thinking while Astoria spoke, and he came to a conclusion. Back when he was a Hogwarts student, he would have hated every person in the room with them, except for maybe Fleur. The conclusion that he drew from that is that maybe they're the right people to trust given the situation that he and Astoria found themselves in. While it was proving difficult to force himself to treat them better, he was sure that he could do it in time. "We figured it was important, but we couldn't work out what it was."

"May we see it?" Lovegood asked kindly. Draco hesitated.

"Dumbledore told us what it is," he said slowly. "I'll show you, but I'm going to have to ask that you not take it from me."

He and Astoria had never lost a loved one. Every single person in this room had. That much would be obvious to anyone with half a brain. Draco was no fool. He knew what the Resurrection Stone could do to people. He remembered well _The Tale of the Three Brothers_.

"Fine," Granger said. Draco reached into the pouch and pulled it out. He stood up, walked over to where Granger sat, reached out his hand and showed her the Resurrection Stone. Immediately, he saw her recognise it. He pulled it away just as she tried to grab it out of his hand. He didn't blame her for wanting it and didn't see a reason to chastise her for it.

"Hermione?" Charlie asked, as Granger looked at Draco, shocked. "What was it?"

"It's the Resurrection Stone," Granger replied, a strange reverence in her voice. "The Centaurs gave Draco Malfoy the Resurrection Stone. How did they even have it?"

"Dumbledore told us he had it at one point," Astoria said.

"He wouldn't have given them the Stone," Granger said. "Someone else must have had it. I don't –"

Draco had seen the look on Granger's face far too often for his liking at Hogwarts. A look that showed that she had solved a problem. Then, her face immediately fell.

"Of course," she said quietly. "_I open at the close_."

"What?" Draco said derisively, mostly on reflex.

"Dumbledore left Harry the very first Golden Snitch that Harry ever caught in Quidditch in his will," Granger said. Draco felt that she wasn't really responding to him. It was more as if she was explaining herself. "Harry worked out after some time that the flesh memory was not of his hand, but of his mouth. When he touched it to his mouth, there were some words on the Snitch. _I open at the close_. We never worked out what it meant, but now I think I know. The Resurrection Stone would have fit in the Snitch, so Dumbledore left it for Harry that way, knowing that no one else would be able to open it. He must have charmed it to be fully activated only when something specific happened or was said. I think Harry activated it when he went to the Forbidden Forest to die. Knowing Harry, he used it. I imagine he saw his parents, Sirius and maybe Remus. He wouldn't keep it though. He probably thought that it would be safe on the ground in the Forest. Barely anyone goes in there anyway. Clearly, the Centaurs found it and held on to it until they saw fit to give it to you."

"That all … makes sense," Draco said, impressed. He had known what a know-it-all Granger was, but he didn't realise she was this good. He had assumed that most of it was just for show.

"It didn't work for either of us," Astoria put in softly. "We probably tried everything when we were trying to work it out, and turning it in our hands had to be one of the ones we tried most often. Dumbledore told us that it didn't work because we haven't lost anyone before."

"And we all have," Granger said, with some realisation, looking at Draco with something akin to admiration. "You knew that, so you made sure we didn't take it."

Draco didn't say anything. A few snide remarks entered his mind, but he didn't voice them, which took a great deal of effort on his part. He wasn't sure he trusted his face though, so he tried to make it more even. There was silence for about a minute.

"I trust them," Lovegood said suddenly.

"How can you be so sure?" Ginny asked. "This is Draco Malfoy."

"The Centaurs," Lovegood said simply. "They may not interfere with our lives much, but they are not evil creatures. If they trust them, perhaps we should as well."

Before anyone else could speak, there was a sudden cry of pain from somewhere upstairs. Draco couldn't help but cringe at the sound. He had heard worse though. He had felt worse too, most likely. Ginny swore and got to her feet.

"Katie, Alicia, come with me," she said quickly. "She'll want to see you. Charlie and Hermione, you might be needed."

The group left the sitting room and rushed upstairs as the cries of pain got louder, leaving Draco and Astoria with Lovegood, Bill and Fleur. Astoria turned to Lovegood.

"Thank you, Luna," she said with a smile. _Luna Lovegood!_ Draco thought to himself. _We used to call her Loony._ "It means a lot to us that you trust us."

"If you're actually fighting against the Ministry, just what are you doing?" Bill asked.

"There hasn't been much that we can do, really," Astoria responded. "I've gotten a job there as a member of the Invisibility Task Force."

"They still have that?" Bill asked, surprised. "I would have thought by now they would have just come out into the open to the Muggle population. We'd have heard of it though. Why haven't they done anything else?"

"I asked Father that," Draco said. Perhaps it was something to do with having less people around, or maybe it was just not being around Granger, but he felt more comfortable. "He says that the Dark Lord wants to ensure his power of Magical Britain first. I think most of the Dark Lord's followers are as shocked as you are that he hasn't done much else."

"Is your father –" Bill began, but Draco cut him off.

"Yes, he's still a supporter of the Dark Lord," Draco said. "But I assure you that we aren't."

There was a loud cry from upstairs, different from the first.

"I think Louis is awake," Bill told Fleur with a grin.

"Could I see him?" Astoria asked suddenly. Fleur looked at her for just a moment before nodding. The two women went off.

"How many kids are there here?" Draco asked.

"Fleur and I have two," Bill said. Draco wondered whether he felt the same way as Luna. "Louis is nearly four months old. Victoire is two and half years old." Bill seemed to look at Draco, as if to challenge him. While not the names that he would have chosen for his own children, Draco did not see an issue. He did notice the importance of the name Victoire.

"Only the two?" Draco asked. Bill nodded.

"Apart from Matt, but he's hardly a resident here," Bill said. "Just the two for now."

"Speaking of residents at this place," Draco said motioning to Number Twelve, "why is it that you're hiding out here of all places? And how come we didn't see it the first time?"

"Well, not that you would know this, but Harry owned this place," Bill explained. Draco was not entirely shocked. Sirius Black had been the last owner of the house, he knew. He also knew that he would likely leave it all to Potter. "Harry left everything to the Weasley family. More specifically, he left it to Mum and Dad. Since they died, I'm the oldest, so it all now belongs to me."

"Odd," Draco murmured. All eyes moved to him, as if awaiting some snide remark. "Even though I expected to be the owner by blood, this doesn't seem to bother me in the slightest. Perhaps it's because Astoria and I already have a home. So, why couldn't we see it the first time?"

"Two Fidelius charms," Bill replied with a smile. He seemed proud. Draco found that he was impressed once again. "One inside the other. I could have gotten rid of the first one, but it would have taken longer than it took me to make the second. Plus, this way it's much safer. Few people know the original address, and even fewer the new one. It's virtually impregnable here."

"Yes, we feel very safe," Fleur said from the stairs. She was carrying a small child with red hair. Astoria was with her, and she looked as though she was lost in the child.

"Draco, he's gorgeous," she said with a smile. Draco was sure she was right, but he felt odd around babies. He had never had anyone in his life who had a baby, so the idea was foreign to him. He just nodded and smiled at his wife obligingly. He knew that one day he would have a child of his own, and that frightened him.

"What do you think?" Fleur asked her husband.

"I think he's sincere," Bill replied. "I think we might even be able to trust him. Plus, it would be good to have someone with an in at the Ministry so we can know what's really going on. The _Prophet _only says so much."

"I heard noises," a voice said from the stairs. Draco turned to look. It had to be the Muggle boy that Greyback had attempted to attack. Other than the executions, Draco realised that this was his first true interaction with any Muggle. He remembered the stories that his mother and father had told him as a young boy about Muggles.

He remembered being told stories about Muggle boys killing magical boys just because they wanted the magic. They were greedy, murderous and, above all, emotionless. He remembered one particular story that his mother told him about a trusting young wizarding boy who made friends with a Muggle. One day the wizard told the Muggle what he was. They had found the boy dead in a lake a week later and the Muggle had gotten off scot-free.

_It's funny_, Draco mused to himself as he watched Lovegood go to the boy and ask to see his arm, _that all of those things that Father taught me about Muggles were actually what he was_. Draco, for the first time in his life, found himself noticing that his father might not be a good person. Even over the last few months, Draco had come to think of his father as something of a result of his circumstances, but it was as if the blinders were taken off for the very first time, and Draco was seeing clearly.

"Well, the cut seems to have healed well enough," Lovegood said with a smile. "Does it still hurt?"

"A bit," the boy said, looking at Draco and Astoria. "Who are you?"

"This is Draco and Astoria," Fleur said. "They're … friends of ours."

"Oh, okay," the boy said. Draco could tell that he was uncomfortable, both in the house and around all these new people. He looked at Draco. "Do you have magic too?"

"Yes, I do," Draco replied. He didn't know what else to say. A part of him waited for the evil look. The murderous look.

"Cool!" the boy said happily. All of a sudden, it was like he was a different kid. "Can you show me some? They all showed me some during the day, and I really liked it."

"We can't at the moment," Astoria cut in. "We don't have our wands."

"Oh," Matt looked downcast. "That's okay. It's still cool that you can do that stuff."

Matt was nothing like what Draco had been taught about Muggles at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. A little voice in Draco's head that sounded eerily like his father said that he was just an exceptional case. But Draco couldn't help but think that this boy might actually be in the majority.

"I think you might want to go back to bed," Luna suggested.

"I'm not tired," Matt said stubbornly.

"It's very late," Luna told him. "If you go back to bed, we'll show you more magic in the morning."

"Okay, fine," Matt said, defeated. Draco remembered an argument like this he had with his parents when he was about that age. That argument had been much longer, not to mention louder.

"I'll go and see Ginny and maybe I'll have something to help you sleep easier," Luna said. "But when I come into your room, you have to be in bed, okay?"

Matt walked upstairs, with Luna following him.

"She's very good at that," Astoria commented. Bill and Fleur laughed.

"We think it's natural for her," Fleur told her. "She has always been good with Victoire and Louis. It's not surprising she's good with Matt as well. We think it's because she has retained some of her inner-child through everything."

"Either way, she's amazing," Bill said. "Everyone here is. Ginny's a self-trained healer, so she can help with any health issues the kids have. Luna is just great with them. Hermione will be able to teach them when they get older. Charlie treats them like the greatest things on Earth. I even think he might like them more than he likes dragons."

There was silence for a moment, before Draco finally realised there was a question that hadn't been answered.

"You're all listed as dead," he said. "How did you manage to survive?"

Bill and Fleur told Draco about what had happened when the Dark Lord set the Hall on fire. Draco and his family had not been in the Hall at the time, so he had never heard a first-hand account. The only person living who knew even a little bit was supposedly the Dark Lord, who only spoke about it vaguely. What Draco had heard most about was the return to the Hall, when people found the bones of those who had been inside. Somehow the bones weren't burned away, even by fiendfyre. Draco had not been there for that, either. He was grateful for that. Even if had had not liked everyone in the Great Hall, he had no wish to see their bones, knowing full well what it meant.

"We don't like talking about it," Bill said when he finished his explanation. "Had you asked Charlie, he might not have told you anything at all. I don't think he ever forgave himself for not saving more people."

"It was not his duty to," Fleur said quietly. Bill nodded.

"I agree, but Charlie doesn't," Bill told her, before looking at Draco and Astoria seriously. "You two are doing the right thing. You need to know that. But you cannot truly understand what it is you're fighting for. Not the way we do."

"And what exactly are you fighting for?" Draco asked. He wondered if he sounded like he was sneering. He didn't mean to be, but it seemed as though Bill took it that way. He looked offended.

"We're fighting for the people we've loved and lost," Bill said. "Like Hermione inferred earlier, it was probably for the best that you didn't give one of us the Resurrection Stone. The temptation for every one of us is there. Not to see them again. That's not what we want. We want to know that they support us. That they love us. That they agree with what we're doing. We have accepted that they are all dead, you see, but there is something there. Perhaps it's just unanswered questions. Perhaps it's unsaid feelings. But if any one of us used the Resurrection Stone, we would never stop. The temptation would be too great. You can't understand that. Quite frankly, I hope you never have to understand it."

Draco thought for a minute. He wondered what would ever make him feel like that. Astoria, as a certainty. His parents? He didn't know. He couldn't fathom how it would feel to be in their position.

"We could have fled," Fleur said suddenly. Draco looked up. "My parents offered us a spot in their home. We could have lived fairly comfortably. We agreed that it wasn't what we wanted. What was it that Hermione said that day?"

"I believe she said, 'I won't leave Britain until I see that bastard's rotting corpse at my feet and those that follow him locked away or dead.' Just a bit extreme," Bill replied with a smile. "I think the sentiment stands. Not that we've been able to do all that much, mind you."

"We're willing to work with you," Astoria said, taking Draco's hand. "We had no idea how we were going to do this on our own. It seems we might not be on our own anymore."

"If helping you means that You-Know-Who gets taken down, I think we can find a way to work together," Bill said seriously. "Unfortunately, I think some of us might have some trouble trusting you. Luna, Fleur and I trust you, which will help. You have to understand, Draco, you did a lot to Hermione throughout your years at Hogwarts. She isn't inclined to –" Bill was about to finish, but there was a yell from upstairs.

"Ginny!" Luna yelled frantically. "Ginny, get in here now! We need you!"

Bill stood up from the couch abruptly.

"Come with me," he said to Draco and Astoria. He ran up the stairs taking them two at a time. Draco wasn't in as much as a hurry, but found himself going quicker than he would normally have done. He saw Bill enter a room and he followed after. Astoria was with him, and Fleur was behind them with baby Louis.

The room was small, much like a guest room would be normally. Draco knew that it would be one of many rooms within the house, as the Black family was known for being lavish with that sort of thing. Even if they didn't need them, they would have a lot of rooms. When he entered he saw Ginny and Granger hovering over a bed. The Muggle boy, Matt, was convulsing on the bed. Every so often a coloured spark or jet would come from his body, illuminating the room.

"Fleur, you need to keep Louis out of here," Ginny said. Fleur nodded and left the room quickly. Draco rushed to the bedside and roughly turned Granger around so she was facing him. Her face went from worry to anger in less than a second.

"You need to give me my wand," Draco said quickly.

"How do I know you won't kill us all?" Granger asked. If the circumstances had been different, Draco felt sure that he would have argued with her. He turned to Ginny just as a purple spark came from Matt's mouth.

"You have no idea what this is, I assume?" he said. Ginny looked at him and shook her head. He turned back to Granger. "I do. Give me my wand, or the kid's going to die. That isn't a threat, it is a fact."

Granger looked reluctant.

"Hermione, just give him his wand," Ginny said. "We're all here. We can fight back if he's stupid enough to do anything."

Granger reached into her pocket and pulled out Draco's wand. Immediately he pushed her and Ginny out of the way and put his wand to Matt's chest, pushing hard into the skin so that he could be sure that contact could be maintained. He closed his eyes and focused, placing his free hand softly on the boy's shoulder. He spoke under his breath, reciting incantations as he went.

The magic Draco was using managed to slow down Matt's convulsions, and even stopped the magic from exiting the young Muggle. Within moments, Matt's convulsions stopped completely. Draco opened his eyes and saw that the boy was still. He put an ear to Matt's chest and listened. He heard the heartbeat and sighed.

"What the hell was that?" Ginny asked. Draco was unsure whether she was referring to Matt or to him.

"Someone needs to keep watching him," Draco said, feeling the boy's face. "This probably won't happen again, but it well could. I used a spell that my father taught me when I married Astoria. It's specifically to settle magic back down. It's not a spell that's well known, but he felt that I might need it when I have a kid of my own. If this happened, I would need to know it."

"What was it?" Ginny asked. "I've never read about this before."

"Sometimes, very rarely, children around this age will develop an issue," Draco began to explain. "Their magic has built up too far and has not been let out in any way before. It mostly happens in late bloomers. Most kids start accidental magic at seven years old, even if their magic starts to manifest earlier than that. Some start earlier, some later. The ones that start too late sometimes have this happen. Their magic was restricted so much that it built up and has to be released in some way, so this happened. My spell basically halts this outburst, allowing the child's magic to progress as normal. If I hadn't done anything, he would have died, I assure you. I thought you said this kid is a Muggle."

"He is," Granger insisted. "His parents insisted they had never seen anything like magic before, and Bill even did a spell to test him just after we got him back here. No magic at all."

"This doesn't happen to Muggle kids," Draco persisted. "Muggles don't have any magic. That's why they're Muggles."

"Here," Bill said, pointing his wand at Matt, who was asleep. He did a wordless spell and a strangely green light floated into the air and formed a 'W' shape. "That doesn't make any sense. Earlier it was a red 'M'. Everyone saw it."

"Your spell is faulty then," Draco said simply. Bill shook his head.

"I've done it on everyone," he replied. "I even did it to random people in the street. It's non-invasive, so no one feels a thing. It has never once been wrong."

"You don't just gain magic," Granger said. "No matter what anyone thinks, Muggles don't steal magic. You're born with it or without it. Matt was a Muggle this morning, and now he's a wizard. Something is going on here."

"Could it be the sleeping potion I gave him?" Luna asked. Ginny shook her head.

"Most potions can work on Muggles just fine," she explained. "I doubt a sleeping potion gave him magical abilities."

"It may have caused the fit though," Draco cut in. "Often when a child who is a late bloomer has one of these fits, it is a direct result of something involving magic. A potion could do just that."

"That may be true, but it doesn't explain how he's suddenly a wizard," Granger pointed out, annoyance lacing her tone. Draco could tell that she still didn't trust him.

"Does it really matter how?" Astoria asked. It seemed that most people in the room had forgotten that she was there. "He's a wizard now. That's what matters, really."

"If there's something out there making Muggles into witches and wizards, I think we ought to know more about it," Bill said. "Then again, this might be a unique case."

Draco found that he agreed with Bill. It was probably just a unique case. There was a chance, however, that there was something else going on.

"Either way," Draco said suddenly, "you are going to have to protect him closely. If he's now a wizard, he may well have been immediately put on the list to go to Hogwarts. That's how the Dark Lord finds a lot of Muggleborns. The list still works and is updated automatically. When a letter is due to be sent to the child, that gives the Ministry an address to find them. His whole family could be executed if you aren't safe."

Draco was shocked to discover just how much he cared. Not only for Matt, but for everyone else in Number Twelve. He and Astoria had decided to fight against the regime of the Dark Lord, but Draco had thought it would be just that. It was only now occurring to him what fighting the Dark Lord meant. They weren't just fighting the Dark Lord. They were fighting to save so many other people. Something inside Draco swelled up. It was something he had never felt before. He had felt something akin to it once, but something was different this time. He felt as though everything he was doing was for a purpose. He actually felt proud of himself.


	9. The Wedding of Zacharias Smith

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 9**_

_**The Wedding of Zacharias Smith**_

"_That is how heavy a secret can become. It can make blood flow easier than ink."_  
\- Patrick Rothfuss ("The Wise Man's Fear")

_**Justin Finch-Fletchley**_

_**19th November, 2003**_

"I'll just stay here with you," Zach said, clearly panicking. He had snuck away from his home while he was preparing for his wedding day. When he and Justin had met the night before, Justin had done all he could to make Zach feel better, but it had been too easy for Zach to get cold feet, especially when marrying someone that he had no desire to spend any time with in any capacity, let alone be married to. "You offered before. We'll be safe and we can just stay here forever."

"I thought you didn't want to run anymore," Justin pointed out. Zach looked hurt, and Justin felt a bit bad. "I'm sorry, but that's what you've said to me every other time."

"I know," Justin said, resigned. "I just … I don't hate her. I just don't want to spend my life with her."

"And she doesn't want to spend hers with you," Justin replied. Zach had told him all about their few meetings, and Pansy had made her position quite clear. In fact, she had even told Zach that she would try to make it work with him. Of course, Justin knew the truth of the situation. He had not spoken to Daphne since she left his house, but he had no reason to believe that Pansy and Blaise had stopped fooling around. As much as he hated keeping anything from Zach, he felt that it was important in this case. "She is being rather reasonable given the circumstances."

"That's not the point," Zach replied. "I know she's being reasonable, but it doesn't help the problem I have."

"I've thought of that, actually" Justin said, giving Zach a cauldron that he had charmed so that it wouldn't spill the light blue liquid contained within it. "I was going to give this to you last night, but I knew you would be back today."

"What is it?" Zach asked, examining the liquid. "I was never good at Potions."

"Think of it as the thing that will eliminate your main problem," Justin replied. Zach's eyes widened. "Have some of this tonight, and you'll be able to actually consummate the marriage, I assure you of that."

"It won't make me like it," Zach said, though he did look grateful.

"No, that's true," Justin said with a smile. "You don't have to like it, you just have to do it. You'll work through it. If you can defy the Ministry as you have all these years, surely you can bring yourself to do this. Think of it as saving your life."

"I don't know what I'd do without you," Zach said sincerely. Justin shrugged.

"Probably do just as well," he replied. "You are so much better than you think. Before you disagree with me, I think you might want to go. You've already been gone for twenty minutes. Much longer and they'll think you've done a runner."

"I never said I would go through with it," Zach said suddenly. Justin smiled at him.

"You will," he said. Justin kissed Zach for a few seconds. "Go on then. Like I said last night, leave it a week, then come and see me. What's in the cauldron will last you at least until then."

"The wedding's in exactly …" Zach checked his watch, "four hours and twenty-two minutes. If I don't show up after that, assume I had the guts to get married." He left it at that and left the house. Justin knew that he wouldn't see Zach again for at least a week. A part of him was extremely saddened, while there was also a part that was actually pleased.

He decided to make something for lunch, but he soon realised that he didn't have anything to make it with. He had not gone shopping for over a week, and he knew that he was due to do so. He quickly gathered his keys and his wallet before walking quickly to the nearby grocery shop. He tried to keep the items to a minimum, mainly because he didn't want to have to carry everything home. He would have been content to use magic except that it was not a smart idea to do so in broad daylight with so many Muggles around.

He was looking at some meat when he felt something brush his back. Alarmed, he turned around but saw nothing. Something niggled at him in the back of his mind, and yet he made the assumption that he was being paranoid. It would not have been the first time that this kind of thing had happened to him over the years, so he brushed it off and went back to his shopping, his heart beating just a little bit faster.

Not long after, he was looking at some fruit and wondering whether it would be worth buying some at the time, and he felt a definite shove on his shoulder, causing him to take a few steps forward. He looked around and, upon seeing no one, he grabbed his wand. He pointed it in the direction that he had thought the thing had been moving and silently used the summoning charm, focusing on the idea of an invisibility cloak. When no one was revealed, he put away his wand and took the groceries to the counter, his eyes scanning the area and his heart pumping faster than it had in a long time.

As he made his way back home with three bags, he found himself looking around. If anyone had seen him at that time, there was no doubt in his mind that they would think he was extremely paranoid. Justin didn't much care about what others thought of him at that point as he was more concerned about what had just happened to him. He was certain that magic was involved, and given the state of the magical world he could only assume that whatever, or whoever, it was was hostile.

He cursed himself for even revealing his wand. For all he knew, the people there were simply scouting the area, looking for people in hiding. They may not have even been looking specifically for him, but now he was worried that he had led them right to him with his stupidity. Justin knew that people had been executed for hiding from the Ministry before, and if he was found out, he wasn't sure that he would be able to get out of it.

He was pleased to finally reach his home and moved to open the lock when he heard a rustle behind him. One of the bushes near his mail box had been touched by something. Justin turned around and saw nothing.

"If you're here to kill me, you may as well get it over with," he said, his voice wavering. He looked to the bushes in his front garden, as if waiting for the assailant to jump out and fire off the Killing Curse. There was no response. "I know you're there."

"Do you support the Ministry?" a female voice asked from somewhere in the direction of the bushes. Justin jumped slightly at the first sound, as he had been expecting that if he had heard anything, it would have been the worst possible words. When he registered what had been said, he thought for a moment. It was a tough question to answer. He decided that the Ministry would kill him either way, so he may as well tell the truth.

"No," he said loud enough for the woman to hear. There was silence for a few moments before he heard a whisper in his ear.

"Neither do I," a different voice told him. He jumped at how close she had gotten. After getting past the shock, he thought he recognised the voice. "Don't say anything else. Just go inside. I'll follow you, and then I'll reveal myself. Just not right now."

Justin opened the door and walked in, leaving the door open for the woman to come in. He sat his groceries on a nearby armchair as the door seemingly closed by itself. Justin watched as the woman came into his view. He knew who it was immediately, and quickly hugged her.

Susan Bones had attended Hogwarts in Hufflepuff House with Justin for the six years he had spent at the school. She was slightly taller than she had been when Justin had last seen her in 1997 and her red hair was cut short. It was clearly her, however. She and Justin had been good friends for six years, and she wasn't something that he found easy to forget.

"Susan, what are you doing here?" Justin asked her, looking at her as if she didn't truly exist.

"It's a bit of a long story," Susan said with a smile. "Oh, it's so good to see you alive. Sorry I asked that question. I knew you wouldn't be, being Muggle-born and all. I can never be too careful. Especially these days."

"I know. I heard that you were caught," Justin said. Susan raised her eyebrows. "How did you get away?"

"Another long story, I'm afraid," she said, laughing. Justin smiled.

"I've got time," he replied before picking up his shopping. "Well, I will have when I get these away."

It didn't take him all that long, as he didn't keep things overly organised and just threw them in wherever he would remember them. After that, he sat back down with Susan. When she asked what he'd like to know first, he suggested that she start from the beginning.

"Well, after Sixth Year, I was pretty aware of what was going on," Susan said seriously. "Since Aunt Amelia died, leaving me with no one to live with and nowhere to live, Hannah and her Dad offered to let me stay with them. Even though Hannah wasn't at Hogwarts, we stayed in touch. I decided that it was for the best. When I heard that Snape was going to be Headmaster and that Muggle-borns wouldn't be allowed at Hogwarts, I decided not to go back. My own personal stand against that regime, I guess. Anyway, Hannah and her Dad thought she should go, since she's a Half-Blood, but they let me decide for myself. I would have stayed with Hannah, but I just couldn't. I knew Snape had killed Dumbledore, and that made him a Death Eater, so I couldn't go back. It was never explicitly said that I had to, but I left their home when Hannah went with her father to catch the Hogwarts Express. I knew some people around who would have me, and my not being at Hogwarts would make Hannah's family a target, so I left.

"I went from place to place over the year, mostly only staying not more than a month or so. Aunt Amelia had Muggle friends, so I sometimes stayed with them, when they were kind enough to allow me to. Because I was in hiding, I missed the Battle of Hogwarts."

"I wasn't there either," Justin told her. He had seen the unhappy look on Susan's face, and recognised that she was feeling guilty so he hoped to make her feel better. Susan smiled.

"Just as well it seems," she said, completely understating things. "Anyway, after the Battle I thought I needed to do more, so I sought out others. The first place I checked was Hogwarts."

"Why would you check there?" Justin asked, confused.

"Fugitives need to hide in the most unlikely places to be found," Susan explained. "I thought that some people might have taken refuge there because the Death Eaters would hardly think to look there after they went back the next day to check. Luckily, I recognised the new wards around the school before I got in. I found a weak spot and entered that way. I guess it worked since no one showed up. I spent two days searching the school for anything I could find to no avail until I decided to search the Divination tower. I mean, I never even thought about it. No one really likes to go there. I'm glad I did, though. Trelawney had locked herself in her office.

"It took some convincing, but I got her to come out and talk to me. She was with a House Elf. Winky her name was. That was apparently how Trelawney kept getting food. Winky told me, after some prompting from Trelawney, that she had done some unlawful things in the past, so stealing food was nothing to her. Trelawney and Winky were hiding away comfortably, but they both refused to help me."

"I could have told you Trelawney would," Justin said. Susan shook her head.

"It wasn't because she was scared," Susan said evenly, "though I understand why you would think so. She said that she couldn't do it because she was too entrenched in Voldemort's history to actively rebel against him. I asked her what that meant, and she said she couldn't tell me. She did tell me that, if she did anything against him, things could go terribly wrong."

_Sounds like she was just making things up_, Justin thought to himself. He knew better than to vocalise such thoughts.

"I did ask Winky if there was anyone else in the school, and she told me that there wasn't," Susan continued. "Since a House Elf bound to Hogwarts knows these things, and I had no reason to distrust her, I decided to just leave them be.

"After that it took a while to find anyone else. A few months later, I found Augusta Longbottom." To Justin's confused look, Susan said, "Neville Longbottom's grandmother. I actually ran into her by accident. I was sneaking around in Hogsmeade when I found her doing the same. She took me back to the house she was using as her hiding place. It was just Longbottom Manor with a Fidelius charm, but it was enough. She told me that she was working with Xenophilius Lovegood, the editor of that _Quibbler_ magazine, remember?"

"The one that everyone thought was bonkers?" Justin asked. Susan nodded.

"That's the one," she replied. "He escaped the Death Eaters the day after the Battle and was forming a resistance. As far as I could tell, it was the death of his daughter that kept him going. Augusta had felt the same way about Neville. I think that's why she joined Xeno. I met with Xeno a few times while I was staying with Augusta. I know what people used to say about him, but he was a changed man. In some ways, he reminded me of Dumbledore. He started to organise attacks, just like the Death Eaters had done before they took the Ministry. That was how I was caught.

"I went with Xeno, Augusta and a few others to the home of known Death Eater, Tarquin Yaxley," Susan said, her face now more serious. "We knew that he was high up in the Death Eater ranks, so we hoped to take him out, or at least take him prisoner. Unfortunately, when we got to his home, it turns out that we had coordinated the attack poorly as he had many visitors over for his wife's birthday. I was just a bit too slow to activate the Portkey, and I was lucky they only stunned me."

"That explains a lot," Justin said. "I know that Lovegood was executed a few years ago. I seem to recall the Longbottom name being mentioned at some point there as well."

"I wasn't really in the loop much after I lost them, but I did manage to find out about that," Susan said gravely. "They were good people. They didn't deserve to die the way they did."

"Anyway, I was due to be executed, but the Death Eaters had neglected to check my pockets," Susan continued. "I was able to, just before Macnair was due to kill me, activate my Portkey and get away. I decided that I had to go back to Augusta's home, but when I got there she was nowhere to be found. I checked everywhere, and there was no trace that she had even returned to the house. I knew she hadn't been killed, though, so I stayed there. She never did come back again. When I heard that she had died, I simply took up full residence at her home. Other than myself, only Xeno and a few members of the resistance had known where the house was, and were essentially Secret Keepers. When I heard about Xeno, I was worried that the Death Eaters would show up, but they never did. I've been there ever since."

"Alone?" Justin asked, his gaze softening. Susan shook her head.

"The Longbottom family had a House Elf," she explained. "Polgara. Odd name for an Elf, but she was good. She was old too. She stayed with me until a few months ago, when she died. Old age. At least that was possible somewhere these days."

"I'm sorry," Justin replied, not really knowing what else could be said.

"I was actually fairly lucky," Susan said, more cheerfully. "Neville had been a keen Herbology student. Since he did so well in that class, Augusta let him use the greenhouse. Neville had been growing everything in there. I've always been pretty good at gardening so I was able to continue that. I've only had to get a few things every so often from a Muggle store, which was difficult enough I admit. I've managed so far though, even without Pol."

"So what brings you here of all places?" Justin asked after a moment's silence. "I mean, it doesn't seem like much of a coincidence."

"It isn't, actually," Susan said. "Truth be told, I didn't really expect to come here. I didn't even know you were still alive."

"Actually," Justin said, thinking of something suddenly. "How did you know that I live here?" Susan laved a throaty laugh.

"I know how a Muggle telephone book works, Jus," she said, teasingly. "In fact, I do believe you were the one who taught me."

"Yeah, but I mean, there's wards on the house," he said. "You shouldn't have known I was here."

"The wards work, don't worry," Susan said. "I didn't think you would be capable of a ward like that, if I'm being honest. I came here a few days ago, expecting to find you alive and well. What I saw … well, you weren't either."

"Wait, you saw me dead?" he asked, suddenly feeling guilty. "I thought it didn't work that way."

"It shows the opposite of what we expect to see," Susan said kindly. "If the Death Eaters showed up looking to find a hidden wizard, they would see something else. Likely a young Muggle family. Or perhaps an elderly couple. I was looking for you specifically because I knew you were alive. As a result, I saw you dead. I didn't know that you weren't, though."

"I'm so sorry," Justin said, a feeling of guilt creeping up from the pit of his stomach. He thought about what he would feel if he found Susan dead in her home, and he knew how she would have felt.

"I kind of just fled when I saw it," Susan admitted. "When I did some thinking, though, I realised what it must have been. If you were dead, it was the Death Eaters, and yet the Dark Mark was nowhere to be found. I worked out that it was a ward. That's why I'm here."

"Wait," Justin said suddenly. "But how did you know I was even alive?"

"That's an odd explanation," Susan said, holding up the folded Invisibility Cloak. "It starts with this."

"Well, it's an Invisibility Cloak, obviously," Justin said.

"It's not mine," Susan replied. "Well, maybe it is now. I don't really know."

"If it isn't yours, how did you get it?" Justin asked. He thought of something suddenly. "Did Augusta have one in the house?"

"No, she doesn't," Susan replied. "There are many magical items in that house, though no Invisibility Cloak, I'm afraid. A bit over a week ago, I was just going for a walk to the grocery store, when I found a parcel sitting on the ground just inside the gate. There was a letter on the top, which had 'Susan Bones' written on it. I checked it for Dark Magic and when I learned that it was safe, I took it inside and opened it. When I found the Invisibility Cloak inside, I read the letter immediately. It might be better if you read it for yourself."

Susan handed over the letter to Justin who took it from her. It was obviously a wizard's letter as it felt much thicker than any Muggle envelope would. It was already open, a plain red seal broken. Justin took out the parchment inside and read the words that were written as if they had been crafted by a calligrapher.

_Susan,_

_I know that this will seem strange to you, though I cannot think of someone more in need of this than you right at this very minute. You are one of very few remaining descendants of the great Houses within the Magical community who remain opposed to Voldemort (the taboo does not cover the written word, for future knowledge). As such, I believe that you will be important in the fight of the years to come. A cloak such as this is better used for you, than myself. It has saved my life on countless occasions, but I find that I am able to hold my own against the forces that seek to kill people like us._

_I cannot, for the moment, reveal to you my identity. To do so would be detrimental in a lot of ways. I may not understand the Mystics of the world, nor do I find myself believing most of what they say, but they have all said one thing to me when I sought them out. They spoke of you, Susan. They said that our paths will not cross right away. We each have our own paths to take for the moment, so I leave this cloak in your hands for now, until such a time when our paths do cross again._

_I cannot do much for you, I'm afraid. I know you have been looking fruitlessly for others over the past years. I also know that you have lessened your search recently. I do not blame you for believing it to be a lost cause, and you should not blame yourself. I can only give you one name, in the hopes that you will see that not everything is lost. Justin Finch-Fletchley. He is alive, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that he will help with your fight. You will find him, just as you found Augusta, Sybill and Xenophilius._

_Do not lose this Invisibility Cloak, Susan. I can never be certain of anything, but I feel that if you lose the Cloak, more may be lost as a result. I am sure you agree with me when I say that we don't want that._

It was signed with an odd symbol that Justin didn't recognise. It was almost like an eye.

"Well, that explains how you know I'm alive," Justin said, handing the letter back to Susan. "Who would have given this to you? Not many people know I'm alive. No one that could have this."

"Who does know you're alive?" Susan asked. Justin then told her everything that was happening with Zach. He didn't mean to tell her everything, but once he got talking, his anxieties began to come out. He didn't mention Daphne, however. He did see her face fall slightly when he told her that he was gay. He had assumed that she knew, even though he never told her in school.

"Well, I doubt it was Zach," Susan agreed when Justin was finished. "As for the rest, I'm afraid I can't do too much else."

"I don't expect you to," Justin said with a small smile. "It's enough to know that you care."

"But Pansy Parkinson!" Susan suddenly said with a disgusted look. "Eurgh. If you knew even half of what I do about her, you would be less inclined to let Zach marry her."

"She's not that bad," Justin said. Susan looked at him seriously again.

"Trust me on this," she said, her tone somewhat menacing. "She is."

"Either way, it's her or someone Zach doesn't know," Justin said.

"I agree with you on that, at least," Susan said. "Pansy might be a horrible choice for a wife, but she's the only real choice available. When's the wedding again?"

"A few hours away still," Justin replied, looking at the clock. "I just wish I could be there for him."

"Do you know where it's at?" Susan asked.

"Yeah. Zach's house. His parents organized everything."

"Well, maybe you can be there for him," Susan said, thrusting the Invisibility Cloak at him. "You and I both know that Zach's family were never exactly safety-conscious, even when the Death Eaters were at large. Chances are, they're even less so now. You could get in there and watch the ceremony."

"Is that really wise?" Justin asked. "This is a pureblood wedding. If I'm caught, I'll be lynched. So will Zach, most likely."

"Do you know what the symbol at the end of the note was?" Susan asked. Justin was surprised at the abrupt change of conversation.

"No," he confessed. "It looked like an eye to me."

"In that case, just believe me when I say that you won't be caught," Susan replied, somewhat mysteriously. "Unless You-Know-Who himself is there, I doubt there will be anyone powerful enough to see through the Cloak. Plus, it hides you pretty well. You didn't see me at all, even though you knew I had to be there."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Justin asked.

"I am," Susan said, her tone one that Justin had heard many times before.

"Okay," Justin said finally. "I trust you."

"Good," Susan said brightly. "Just give it back to me when you're done. When are you going to leave?"

"I think I'll leave just a little bit before the wedding is meant to start," Justin replied. _If Zach can go through with being married, I can get through the wedding_, he thought to himself, more to convince himself that it was a good idea than anything else.

He and Susan talked for a little while longer, and Justin made them both lunch. He told her that she could visit at any time she wished. Susan had been very appreciative of that. She soon disapparated away and Justin was left to go to Zach's on his own. He knew how to apparate and, since he was legally dead in the magical world, his doing so couldn't be tracked. He had the Cloak on as he apparated to the Smith home.

The Smith's had lived in this home for years. Zach was never sure how long exactly. He didn't much care, Justin knew. It was a large house near Hogsmeade. Not in the town itself, but a few kilometres away. It was what would be considered a Muggle farm, if they had had any agriculture on it.

The house itself was of no interest to Justin as he made his way around to where he saw three very fancy pavilions set up. One was so big that Justin thought it almost rivalled the Great Hall at Hogwarts. There were two others, one for the bride and one for the groom. Justin could see into the largest pavilion. There were a lot of people waiting within, talking with each other. Justin recognised some of them, but in particular he noticed Daphne Greengrass, Blaise Zabini and, much to his disgust, Draco Malfoy. Malfoy was standing with a woman with very dark brown hair who was shorter than he was, though he could not make much more out. He wondered for a moment who she was, but then he heard something from the pavilion nearest him.

"That's fine Dad," he heard Zach say from within. "I just need a few minutes alone. This is a big deal, right? I'll never be alone again and all that."

A moment later, Zach's father exited the pavilion. He looked in Justin's direction, and Justin froze. He hadn't seen anything, however, and turned to walk away. Justin breathed a sigh of relief and quickly entered where the older man had left.

"Just a few minutes Dad," Zach said, annoyed. He turned around and saw nothing.

"Zach, it's just me," Justin whispered. Zach looked startled. "Don't speak too loud. I don't want to show myself because anyone could walk in. Just know that I'm here for you, even if you can't see me. You can do it, I know you can. I love you."

"I love you too," Zach said quietly. Justin reached out an invisible hand and touched Zach's face.

"I have to go," he said as Zach lifted his hand to touch Justin's. "I'll be watching."

Twenty minutes later, Justin was watching the presiding wizard waved his wand over the heads of Zacharias Smith and Pansy Parkinson, creating a shower of stars on their hands. Pansy, Justin had to admit, did look beautiful. In fact, she was almost radiant. When the stars had fallen, Pansy and Zach kissed, just briefly. There was a brief exclamation of joy from the guests and then applause. Justin watched as Zach put his arm around Pansy's waist and walked her back down the aisle.

Justin watched Zach's face the whole way. He didn't think that anyone else could see his face at that moment, and that was probably for the best. Justin walked away from the pavilion and apparated away. When he got back to his home, he took off the invisibility cloak and felt tears come to his eyes.


	10. Interrogation

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 10**_

_**Interrogation**_

"_The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."  
_\- Edmund Burke [Not Verified]

_**Dennis Creevey**_

_**24th November, 2003**_

As Dennis had classes late on Monday afternoons, he had decided to stay Sunday night at his parents' house. Partly this was because he was tired, but mostly he wanted to see Teddy off to school at least once. This was something that had come about due to the little boy's insistence.

Teddy was fitting into life with Dennis' parents quite well, and they had even managed to enrol him into a Muggle school so that he could get an education. Dennis had to forge some documents for them so that they could prove that they were, in fact, the legal caregivers of Teddy, but he had found that was quite easy. Teddy was happy with them, which Dennis was glad to see. His parents were definitely treating Teddy like their own child, which pleased Dennis even further. He was old enough that he wasn't jealous of the boy, and was coming to look at Teddy as his little brother.

It was nearly time for Teddy to go to school. Dennis had told him the night before that he would drive Teddy to school, and the boy had been ecstatic. Ever since Dennis left Teddy with his parents, the young boy had come to like Dennis. In fact, his parents had often remarked that Teddy would almost constantly ask to see him and became upset whenever he couldn't. Usually Simone would drop Teddy off, but she was sleeping in, and deservedly so in Dennis' opinion.

"You like school, huh?" Dennis asked Teddy, who was eating some colourful cereal. The boy smiled and nodded. Dennis' parents had decided that it would be best if they said that Teddy was their adopted child, so Dennis had told Teddy weeks ago that he could just use his normal hair colour and style without changing it. Teddy had been put out upon hearing this, but after Dennis talked to him further, the boy relented. His hair was a dark brown and was short, which was how it had been unless they knew that no one could see him.

"It's fun!" he said happily. "I've made some friends, and Mr Stevenson is really funny."

"That's great!" Dennis said, making himself some coffee. It was nice to see that kids could be excited about school. Dennis asked Teddy about what he had been learning, and Teddy told him in a surprising amount of detail. He was still only five years old, so what they were learning seemed simple to Dennis. He knew that it was probably difficult for Teddy, though, and found himself being quite proud.

After breakfast, Dennis put Teddy into his car and drove to the school. He knew where it was, as it was the same school that he had attended when he was younger. He parked out the front of the old school and got Teddy out. Teddy hugged him tightly and Dennis returned it.

"Do you have to go back?" Teddy asked him. Dennis knelt down.

"I'm sorry, but I do," he said. "I have to go to school myself, okay? I'll come back and see you soon, I promise."

"Okay," Teddy said. He looked upset, but was obviously trying not to. Dennis chuckled.

"You be good for Mr Stevenson today, okay?" Dennis said, hugging Teddy again. "I don't want to hear that you got in trouble."

"I'll be good," Teddy said. With that, the boy entered into the gates to the school. Dennis watched as Teddy found someone he obviously knew and started talking. It was as if Teddy's mood had changed immediately. He was much happier. Dennis remembered what it was like at that age and to have new friends. He was glad that Teddy found some other kids who wanted him around. For a second he thought of Colin.

As Dennis got into his car to drive back to his parents', he saw something odd. Across the street from the school was a man. Dennis couldn't see his face because it was covered by something, and he had a hood over his head. Dennis saw him walk down the street. His mind jumped to the man being a wizard, but then he realised that the man was just too well-dressed considering. Most wizards, especially those that would be affiliated with the Ministry at this point, had no idea how to dress in the Muggle world. Taking solace in that, he started the car. He looked over into the schoolyard and found that Teddy was looking at him. Dennis waved to Teddy who waved enthusiastically back with a massive smile on his little face.

When Dennis got back, his mother was up and eating some toast.

"How'd it go?" she asked. Dennis smiled.

"It was fine," he said. "He asked me if I had to go." His mother laughed.

"He's always doing that," she said humourously. "'When can I see Dennis?'. 'When will Dennis be here?'. 'Can Dennis come to dinner?'. It's cute."

"I guess," Dennis said.

"It is," his mother insisted. "It's good that he likes you this much. It's helped your father and I get used to having him around, and I think it's helped him get used to living here too."

"I'll try and get here more often," Dennis said with a wry smile. "I did get you into this after all."

"Nonsense," his mother said. "Your father and I love doing this. It's good to have someone else in the house again. It's silenced a few ghosts we've had for years." Dennis knew she wasn't being literal. He wanted to ask whether she had been into Colin's room yet, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. He had not been back in there himself since the last time.

When he got back to his apartment later that day, he found that no one else was around and he had some time to kill. He pulled out the book that Umbridge had given him and started to read. He found himself reading the book more and more often recently, even sometimes neglecting some things he had to do for some of his classes as a result. It was important, though, if he was ever going to teach Teddy.

The book was basically an in-depth look at what most witches and wizards know from their N.E.W.T. level studies as well as a few interesting things that they might like to learn following it as well. As Dennis had never studied that high at Hogwarts, the book was incredibly helpful and he found himself improving his magic by using it. While it was a poor imitation of Hogwarts, it was still helpful. It mostly covered magic and not potions or history, though Dennis knew that it was likely just magic that Teddy would need to know. Plus, it would help Dennis survive if necessary.

Dennis read for over an hour before deciding to gather his things and head to his classes early. Though he had only two classes for the day, he enjoyed both and didn't mind actually going. This was not the same with some of his other classes, which some days he wished that he could just skip. Unfortunately, one of the reasons why he didn't particularly enjoy these classes was the strictness in regards to attendance.

The following day, Dennis had several classes. When he got to the final lecture that day, the lecturer was waffling on as usual. Dennis sat in a small lecture room, surrounded by people who were busily taking notes. Dennis, too, was writing but was finding that it was all just nonsense to him. He didn't enjoy the class at all so his mind started to drift to other things. Having just spent the weekend at home, spending time with his parents and Teddy, his main thoughts were about that.

Dennis also found himself worrying about the newly rediscovered magical aspect of his life. There was a part of him still felt guilty for bringing Patrick and Sam into it, but he knew there was nothing else for it. At first, Sam had been reluctant to believe everything that Dennis had told her, but she eventually came around. For a while, Dennis thought that she was deliberately avoiding their apartment because of it, as she was spending so much time with her boyfriend, but he soon realised that he was just worrying too much as when her boyfriend broke up with her, Sam spent more time at the apartment once again.

In a way, Dennis was pleased that they knew, as it made things around the house easier. He was able to use magic more openly around them, making usually harder tasks much easier. They appreciated this a great deal, as both of them were quite lazy a lot of the time, if Dennis was being truthful. As it was, their lives were mostly made easier by magic. Dennis did refuse to do some things with magic, mainly because he didn't feel like he should rely too much on it. They didn't seem to understand why, but didn't hound him about it too much.

Despite the positives associated with them knowing, Dennis still felt concerned about the possibility that the Ministry would find him and attack, harming the two of them as well. He kept telling himself that if they hadn't found him for five years, they wouldn't do it now, but he also knew that Umbridge had found him fairly easily when she wanted to. It made him worried, and every day he spent a great deal of time looking out for anyone who might be going to attack him or, more importantly, Patrick and Sam. Even though he knew they would hate his feeling this, he felt responsible for them when it came to magic. He wasn't sure that he could actually protect them if it came to that, but he would at least try.

In no time at all, the lecture was over and Dennis realised that he had not written a great deal. He reserved to talk to a few people he knew in the class and ask them whether he could use their notes. There was a scurry to exit the lecture hall, with a lot of people going to another class. Dennis' day, however, was over, so he was in no rush. He waited until the vast majority of people left and then picked up his bag, slung it on his back and walked out of the hall. As he lived only ten minutes away, he didn't drive that morning, so he headed off towards his apartment.

It was quiet as he walked, Dennis found. It was really only Tuesdays when it was this quiet, as he finished earlier than usual, so not many people were out and about. He walked past a few apartment blocks and then turned a corner. He heard a pop behind him, and reacted almost instinctively. He had his fingers on his wand when he was hit in the back by a spell from an unknown source.

His eyes flew open to reveal a room lit only by a dim oil lamp on the table in front of him. Dennis tried to move, but found that he was magically connected to the chair and couldn't escape. His heart started pounding and he kept trying to escape the chair. He saw that his bag was on the floor next to him.

"You aren't going to get out," a voice said from across the room. Dennis couldn't see who it was, but the voice sounded odd. Almost distorted, like when the Muggle news wants to protect someone, so they alter the voice.

"Who are you?" Dennis asked, his heart still racing. His arms were somehow bound behind the chair, so he couldn't even reach for his wand which he saw was in front of him on the table.

"A friend," the distorted voice said.

"Some friend," Dennis complained, struggling against his invisible binds again.

"I do apologise for having to bind you like that," the voice said. "Unfortunately, I have deemed it necessary. My safety is important."

"I wouldn't hurt you," Dennis said. "I just want to go."

"I know you wouldn't," the voice said again. Dennis thought that it sounded softer somehow. "The Creeveys never had a violent bone in their bodies."

"How do you know me?" Dennis asked quickly.

"That is not important," the voice said. "I need you to know, that I am sorry for this. I wish things were different."

"You could at least show yourself," Dennis said. He was starting to calm down a bit now, realising that the person probably meant him no harm.

"Reasonable," the voice replied. A moment later, a man stepped out of the shadows. He was average height, though made himself seem much larger. He had a hood covering his head and a bandanna covering the lower half of his face. Dennis could only just see his eyes. The man was wearing a thick leather jacket, with a hooded jumper underneath. He was also wearing dark cargo pants and black gloves. Around his neck was a silver chain that ended with an odd symbol, almost like an eye. "I cannot do more than this, so don't ask."

"Who are you?" Dennis asked.

"You asked me that already, I'm afraid," the man said. "My answer remains the same. I cannot reveal myself, even to you. Danger lies everywhere."

Dennis looked around the room. The oil lamp was illuminating enough that he could see the walls of the room. They were covered in Muggle post-it notes of indeterminable colours. There were words written on them that Dennis couldn't make out because of the darkness. Dennis did notice that there were light fittings in the roof that meant that the room was not usually this dark.

"I take it you don't work for the Ministry, then?" Dennis asked. The man shook his head.

"No, fortunately," he said. "They have done enough to me that I would rather spend my life in Azkaban than work for them."

"In that case, you could have just spoken to me," Dennis said angrily. "You didn't need to attack me in the street."

"Perhaps," the man said slowly. "Then again, I didn't know your stance on things. For all I knew, you were some psychopath."

"I'm not the one with sticky notes all over my walls," Dennis said. The man laughed.

"Yes, I suppose that is true," he said with some mirth. "Though I am not a psychopath. Then again, if I were a psychopath, would I even know?"

"You don't seem so sure," Dennis said.

"I'm not," the man said seriously. "I've been through quite a bit these last five years."

Dennis watched as he took off the glove of his right hand and rolled up the sleeves of his right arm. The hand was almost completely black, as if burned. Dennis cringed at the sight.

"Not a pretty sight, to be sure," the man said. Dennis felt, though he could not be certain, that the man was smiling. "A scar from the Battle of Hogwarts. I am lucky, truly. So many others were burnt much worse. At least I still have use of the hand thanks to the wonders of magic."

"Were you at the Battle?" Dennis asked, curiously.

"Indeed," the man replied. "I was in the Hall when it burned."

"Everyone in the Great Hall died," Dennis said.

"As I said," the man replied, "I am lucky."

"Why me?" Dennis asked suddenly. "Why take me?"

"Two reasons. Firstly …" the man replied, reaching his left hand into his pocket as his right hand held his wand pointed at Dennis. Dennis found that he could now move his arms, though not his entire body. The man passed Dennis something. Dennis saw that it was the picture of Dumbledore's Army that he had found missing from Colin's scrapbook.

"How did you find this?" Dennis demanded, looking up at the man.

"I found it," he replied. "After the Battle I wandered the halls of Hogwarts and found this on the ground. I feel that you should have it. It was your brothers after all."

Dennis looked at the picture in his hands. After scanning the picture for a moment he found Colin standing there with an arm around a younger Dennis. Colin was grinning and waving at the camera. It was the only time at Hogwarts that Dennis remembered Colin being truly happy, and it felt nice to see the picture again. _It's a shame everyone else in this picture is probably dead_, Dennis thought to himself.

"Thank you," Dennis said sincerely. He thought about picking up his wand, but decided that it wasn't worth the risk. "You said two reasons."

"I did, yes," the man said. "The second reason is to ask you some questions. I am trying to discover what is going on in the resistance movement against the Ministry. Ever since the death of Xenophilius Lovegood, there has been a severe lack of any kind of movement against the new magical government, even though I feel like there is likely more than I have seen."

"I don't know anything about that," Dennis said. It wasn't truly a lie. He didn't really think that Umbridge classified as part of a resistance movement.

"Be that as it may," the man replied. "I still want to ask you some questions. When I've done so, you will be free to go."

Dennis nodded. It was the only thing he could do. He wasn't sure that he could trust this man, but there wasn't much else he could do. The man nodded as well.

"What do you know about the death of Augusta Longbottom?" the man asked.

"I only knew one Longbottom, and that was Neville. I assume Augusta was his grandmother?" Dennis asked. When the man replied in the affirmative, Dennis shook his head. "I haven't kept up with anything to do with the magical community, so I don't know anything about it."

"What about Xenophilius Lovegood?" the man asked as soon as Dennis was finished talking.

"Again, I only knew Luna Lovegood," Dennis replied. "I know that her father ran _The Quibbler_, but that's it really. I haven't heard anything."

"What do you know about Susan Bones?" the man asked, just as quickly as before.

"I knew of her from school, but we never really spoke," Dennis replied, thinking about her in Dumbledore's Army. "She was older than me and in a different house so she never had a reason to speak to me."

"What about these days?" the man insisted.

"Nothing," Dennis said. "Is she alive?"

"Yes, she is, but the fact that you have to ask that shows me that you don't know anything about that," the man said. He sounded slightly frustrated. "What about Justin Finch-Fletchley?"

"I'm sorry, but I just don't know," Dennis said, trying to make him understand. "I have not been involved in any way. I would have assumed they were all dead."

"Cho Chang?" the man asked, his voice continuing to become more and more frustrated.

"No, I'm sorry," Dennis said quickly.

"Marietta Edgecomb?" the man asked, his voice suddenly getting quicker and slightly pained. "Michael Corner? Mundungus Fletcher? Amos Diggory? Dedalus Diggle? Hestia Jones? Angelina Johnson? Katie Bell? Alicia Spinnet? Any of them?"

"Look, I wish I could help you, I really do," Dennis cut in. "I just don't know anything about any of them. Not now, anyway."

Dennis could see that the man's eyes, the only part of the man that he could see, looked pained. There was a haunted quality to them, and Dennis couldn't help but feel bad for him. The man breathed in, and Dennis wondered just how much that did given the bandana around his mouth.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly. "I got carried away. I'm trying so hard, and it's so frustrating to see everyone who could be involved just living their lives without a care in the damn world. Even the ones that were trying before seem to have given up. I don't blame them, or you, for doing just that. What has happened in the last five years, perhaps even longer, would keep even the bravest away. I had hoped that there would be a resistance still there. Harry Potter died for us that day. So many others did as well. The least we can do is to fight back. Kill the ones who made our world so despicable that nobody wants to go back."

"I don't want to kill anyone," Dennis said meekly. "Maybe it's what they deserve, but I can't do it. They killed my brother, but he would never have killed any of them. Nor would Harry Potter."

"And they're both dead," the man pointed out. "Harry and Colin did what they believed was right. As did Albus Dumbledore. All three are dead now, and those that survive are the ones who would kill for fun. Wizarding Britain needs people who are prepared to do what needs to be done, not those who would never kill, if it is ever to get back to the way it was. This will not go away until those that want it to stay go away."

"The most powerful wizard in the world –" Dennis was cut off before he could say what he wanted.

"Is You-Know-Who," the man said gruffly. "We could debate philosophy all day, and I would probably welcome you to stay here, but you are simply not what I need."

The man pointed his wand at Dennis' head.

Dennis woke up with a headache, feeling the cold cement under him.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" a woman asked him. Dennis looked at his surroundings. He was not far from his apartment.

"I think so," he said, pushing himself to his feet. He noticed that the sun was lower than it had been when he left his class. "I must have collapsed."

"Do you need to go to the hospital?" the woman asked him. Dennis shook his head and picked up his bag.

"I think I'll be okay," he said. "I just have a bit of a headache. But thank you anyway."

"If you say so," she said skeptically. She walked away slowly and Dennis started walking. He reached into his pocket and found his wand. He could also feel two other things in his pocket as well. He pulled them out. The first thing made him stop walking.

It was a picture of Dumbledore's Army that Dennis had found ripped out of Colin's scrapbook. Dennis looked at the picture in disbelief and looked around him. He had no idea how he had gotten it. He looked for a while at Colin in the picture, smiling with his arm around younger Dennis and waving at the camera. Dennis then looked at the piece of paper he had found in his pocket as well. He unfolded it and read the beautifully written words.

_Dennis,_

_Be careful. The Death Eaters can be unpredictable and strike at any moment, especially if they think there might be something important for them. I know you are inclined to stay out of wizarding affairs, but this may become increasingly difficult. Be wary._

_Enjoy the picture._

It was signed only by a rather strange symbol that looked like an eye.


	11. Learning to See

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 11**_

_**Learning to See**_

"_The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sun set. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight."  
_\- John Berger ("Ways of Seeing")

_**Luna Lovegood**_

_**29th November, 2003**_

Luna was reading through a rather thick and very old book from the Black family library about the myths and legends surrounding the origins of magic. She wasn't entirely interested in things like this, but since the incident with Matt Fogarty a few weeks prior, the occupants of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place had been scouring the library looking for an answer. They had no doubt now that Matt had somehow gained magical powers, but it remained a mystery how it had happened. Or, perhaps more importantly, why it happened.

Though Bill and Hermione had attempted to dissuade Wendy and Robert from going back to their home for safety reasons, they had decided to go anyway. Luna agreed with Bill and Hermione's assessments of the situation. Greyback may want to finish the job that he started and there was likely not going to be much stopping him from achieving it the next time. Wendy and Robert, as nice as they were, didn't fully understand the risk and there wasn't much else that they could do to convince them of the dangers. The most that Wendy and Robert agreed to was spending the next full moon at Number Twelve as a precaution. They had also called them twice, letting them know that Matt had been accidentally doing magic. This only served to confuse everyone even further.

Luna didn't feel that the book she was reading had the answers that they were looking for, as the authors didn't even seem to have any concrete reasons as to why magic even exists, so Luna found it hard to believe that they would know how it could suddenly manifest itself in a Muggle. What small chapter about Muggles there had been had not been at all helpful. Luna put the book down and found a book on Divination to read instead.

The subject of Divination intrigued Luna greatly, and her interest had only increased over the years. As far back as Luna could remember, she had felt some sort of connection to something that somehow felt less physical than the world around her, though when she was younger she was content to hoist this off as the presence of one magical animal or another. While she still believed that Nargles and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks existed, Luna had begun to reason that some of the things that she had attributed to these sorts of creatures were something else entirely. Something that she didn't completely understand. That was what drove her to study Divination, even if it did seem a bit odd to everyone else, and even to her sometimes.

Luna was seated in the lounge room in an armchair near Ginny, who was reading a book about werewolves. One that was intensely dark, which is probably why the Black family had included it in their collection. It was not the type of book that Luna could ever see herself reading. Luna watched Ginny for a moment before she finally opened her own book to the first page and began to read to herself.

_Chapter 3: Learning to See_

_One who has the ability to become a Seer is constantly limited in their knowledge, purely because their abilities need more than a natural course to guide them which is beyond the realm of knowledge for most human beings. This is why a lot of Seers have different objects to tell something about the "Great Beyond", such as it is. Some Seers will rely on tea leaves to tell them something, others on the lines on the palm of another person and some even have the classic crystal ball._

_These methods have varied effectiveness, though they tend to work even for those who do not have the Sight. It is unknown why this is, though there has been speculation for many years that these ways of seeing the future are not based on the ability of the person attempting it, but the universe itself telling someone something through these different ways, if they know how to look for it. As such, this type of seeing is able to be taught by and to normal people._

_Being a true Seer is much different to understanding the principles behind tea leaves and crystal balls, however, and is a much more difficult task, not only physically, but mentally, for the Seer involved. It is an unfortunate fact in a lot of cases that a Seer cannot act upon what they See, even if it is something that is something emotional for them to view._

_How does one know if they are a Seer? An important question. Often a person does not know that they have the Sight, or they simply do not care enough. It is common among Seers that they started with some vague beliefs about the world that are different to those of others, and more in line with the Mystics of the world, though not in that extreme in most cases. The Mystics have a Sight of their own, but are restricted in ways where Seers are not so and vice versa. A Seer's Sight primarily focuses on events within the physical realm, something that a Mystics does not. However, it is common that a Seer will have a connection to something that is not physical._

_It is difficult for a Seer to ascertain whether or not they have the Sight. Many books that have been released will say that there is no absolutely certain way to properly ascertain that information, however they appear to be incorrect on that. There is a way in which a Seer can "activate", so to speak, their abilities. For some Seers, this is not needed, though for others it is vital._

_This test is described below, but there must be a warning in place for this. While not entirely harmful to someone who does not end up having the Sight, as described earlier there could be an emotional cost to a Seer who wishes to fully See. What they See in the induced trance that this creates cannot ever be revealed explicitly. It is not something that a Seer can choose, it is part of their biological make up. Seers cannot ever mention what they See in this trance. It is physically impossible. This is especially hard the first time, as new Seers who activate their abilities will See things closely related to them personally the first time. As time goes on, they will begin to See things less related to them, but there is a risk at the beginning._

_It is possible, however, for a Seer to use what they know to subtly influence people. They simply cannot state what they have Seen, nor infer that it is what has been seen. If their saying something will lead to the visions coming true, than it shall be so. Each Seer is different in this regard. However, no Seer can change what they have Seen._

_Be sure to understand the risk before you take it. The emotional stress cannot be understated. If there is even a chance that this could debilitate you emotionally, do not do it. This is a choice. Make the right one._

The book then went on to explain in great detail the way in which a Seer's power is activated and Luna started to get excited at the thought. This was the first time reading this particular book, and it was the first mention of how to activate powers. She was not absolutely sure that she was a Seer, but she felt that there was a possibility.

"I found it!" Ginny shouted triumphantly. Luna looked up to see her grinning broadly and pointing at the book.

"I'll get the others," Luna said quickly and left the lounge area. She found them all relatively quickly and soon they were gathered in the living room. Bill briefly discussed getting Draco and Astoria to come over, but they decided to wait until Ginny had explained in case it was a false alarm. Ginny looked slightly put out when that was mentioned.

"I've found something," Ginny said. "It isn't one hundred percent certain, but it's the best lead we have. As we know, Matt was attacked by Greyback and scratched. This book says that a werewolf's scratch will do little damage unless, like with Bill, the scratches are deep and multiple. Also, it says that a scratched child is less likely to gain any werewolf qualities than an adult. I know this isn't a lot, but there's more.

"There's a chapter in here about eclipses and the effect on werewolves," Ginny continued. No one was interrupting her, which was for the best. "It says here that both lunar and solar eclipses have effects on magical abilities, making magic somewhat stronger during the period of the eclipses, and for some time beforehand as well. It says that lunar eclipses are more important because they last for a longer time than a solar eclipse does.

"It goes on to say that a total lunar eclipse is actually a great deal stronger. As Bill pointed out to Hermione the day we saved Matt, there was a total lunar eclipse. It plays havoc with magic. Where a lesser eclipse would only strengthen some magic, a total lunar eclipse weakens some as well, such as the tracking spell that Bill placed on Greyback. There's more, though. I'll read the next part out in full,

"_There have been rumours for centuries about the effect of a total lunar eclipse on werewolves. Some have claimed over the years that the eclipse strengthens the werewolves and makes them more vicious towards their victims. There is some numbers that could potentially support this theory, as when a total lunar eclipse occurs, there is a slight rise in werewolf attacks. There is more to this, however. Most of the attacks that occur in that time period have been fatal, whether attacking Muggles or those of magical origin. The fatality rate at a total lunar eclipse is much larger than those of other full moons. Interestingly, there is a tale told of a werewolf in the midst of a total lunar eclipse. And it is as follows:_" Ginny took a breath before continuing.

"_When the moon was a blood red, a werewolf strode among a forest, searching for its prey. All senses enhanced, the werewolf came upon something much faster than it usually would. A Muggle encampment. It found a boy, no older than eight, and attacked almost immediately. In seconds, Muggles came upon the beast and drove it off, back into the jungle, wounded and dying. The boy had only a scratch. It is said that he died the following day from an outburst of magic. It is certain that the boy was of Muggle origin, making the death unheard of and unexplainable. The Muggle encampment blamed the death on the beast and on their Gods, devoting their life to hunting down and killing the creature, though they never saw it again._

"_This story has died out in recent years, and it is uncertain as to whether it has any basis in reality. It could simply be a story to increase the hatred towards an extremely dark creature._"

"Of course!" Hermione explained as Ginny finished talking. "Why didn't we think about that?"

"So it was Greyback and the eclipse?" Fleur asked, and Hermione and Ginny nodded.

"Seems that way," Ginny said, giving the book to Hermione to read. "It's all we have, but it does kind of make sense. Total lunar eclipses do have power. Just look at Bill's tracking spell for that."

"So, this means that when there's a total lunar eclipse, werewolves have the ability to pass on magic, even to Muggles?" Charlie asked, amazed. "I'm surprised that it isn't more widely known."

"It doesn't seem like something that happens often," Bill replied, thinking. "These types of eclipses don't happen very often, and then there's the fact that the kid needs to be Muggle and scratched. Plus, even if it did happen, it's unlikely that the magical community would know about it, because they wouldn't much care."

"Not to mention the book saying that most werewolf attacks at eclipses are fatal," Ginny pointed out.

"It's good we had Draco," Luna said. The others looked at her strangely. "The boy in the story died because of that outburst. If Draco hadn't been with us at the time, the same would have happened to Matt."

"Matt may actually be the first Muggle to get magical abilities and actually keep them," Charlie speculated. "Here's hoping this doesn't get out. This would just be something more for the Death Eaters to jump on. They already thought that Muggle-borns had stolen the magic from someone else. This is too close to that."

"Would Matt have the Trace?" Fleur asked. Hermione, having studied the Trace extensively, had removed it from Fleur's children, but no one had thought about Matt.

"I don't think so," Bill replied. "I think the Trace is put on children at birth. It's pretty much automatic. I think the object that does it for the United Kingdom is in the Department of Mysteries. It wouldn't hurt to check him, though. He would be safer."

"Well," Hermione said, having read everything through herself. "You're all right of course. Matt needs to be checked for the Trace as soon as possible. I've just read it all through. It can't be certain that this is true, but it's all that we've got. It's useful to know all this anyway. Not that it will happen again, but if werewolves are stronger and more vicious at eclipses, that could be important."

"Matt said that Greyback let him go," Luna said, remembering talking to the boy about his ordeal. "Why would Greyback play with him like that if he was more vicious?"

"This book was written before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered," Ginny said. "Perhaps the Wolfsbane Potion also mitigated the effects of the eclipse, at least in terms of the mindset of Greyback at the time."

"How do we know he was using Wolfsbane?" Charlie asked.

"Because in his werewolf state without it, the urge to kill is greater than the urge to play with its food, to put it bluntly," Hermione replied. "Greyback would not have chased Matt as much as he did if he hadn't used it."

"But why would he use it?" Ginny asked, echoing Luna's own thoughts. All the stories they had heard about Greyback mentioned that he refused that potion.

"Maybe You-Know-Who is forcing him to," Hermione suggested. "A controlled werewolf is better than a wild one, I would assume."

"What do we tell Matt?" Charlie asked. "And Wendy and Robert?"

"The truth," Hermione said fervently. "Their son was attacked because we were careless and let it happen."

"It wasn't supposed to happen that way," Bill said, but Hermione shut him down with a look.

"We should have recognised what the eclipse was going to do to the tracking spell earlier," Hermione said. "If we had, we could have made other plans and Matt wouldn't have been attacked at all. Neither would Angelina."

"You didn't know the importance," Bill replied. "It's not widely known what total lunar eclipses do to magic. We did right by Matt, and his parents agree on that."

"We should still tell them the truth regardless," Hermione stated firmly. Bill nodded.

"I agree with you, but don't go beating yourself up about the fact that Matt was attacked," he said, equally as firmly as Hermione had spoken.

"What's done is done," Fleur agreed.

Bill and Fleur were about to head back to Shell Cottage with the kids for the night when Luna stopped them.

"I was hoping to use Shell Cottage for something," she said to them both. They looked slightly surprised.

"Of course," Bill said in reply. "May I ask what it's for?"

"I found something in a book on Divination I want to try, and I would rather do it on my own," Luna explained. "Ginny's helping me with a potion, and it will take two days to finish. I'll need to use the cottage then."

"Is it safe?" Fleur asked.

"Oh, yes, I think so," Luna replied casually. "Ginny has looked it over and she thinks it's safe. She would know. She doesn't necessarily think that it will work, but that's okay. She's still going to help me out anyway."

"Alright," Bill said with a nod. "Just let us know, and we'll make sure to get out of your way."

The following day, Luna, Ginny, Bill and Hermione visited Wendy, Robert and Matt. They had discussed who would go, and decided that Fleur and Charlie would stay at Number Twelve with the kids and just in case Draco and Astoria visited. They had visited twice since discovering them hiding out there. Bill had allowed for the Floo to be connected to their home at Spinner's End, so they could get to Grimmauld Place if they ever needed to.

Ginny explained to the family what she had read in the book, and they were remarkably understanding of the situation. Hermione and Bill explained as best they could about Greyback and werewolves in general. As with everyone, the idea of Greyback sickenedall three of them, but Hermione made certain to explain that not all werewolves are bad, using Remus Lupin as an example. Luna was there mainly because she had formed a connection with the ten year old, and they thought that it would be good for her to be there if only for emotional support if it was needed.

"Of course, we need to talk about how he's going to be taught," Hermione said, perhaps a little too matter-of-factly. Wendy and Robert shared a glance.

"We were hoping to keep him out of your world," Robert said bluntly.

"No offence, of course," Wendy put in. "You are all very nice, but it doesn't sound like something Matt should be involved in."

"Trust us," Bill said seriously, "we would agree with you completely on that, but for one unfortunate detail. Now that Matt has magical abilities, he needs to learn how to use them properly. An untrained wizard is a danger to themselves and those around them."

"What do you mean?" Wendy asked, a scared look on her face. Ginny decided to talk now, knowing the most about these things.

"When Matt had that fit, it was his magic trying to escape," Ginny explained. "If he keeps his magic bottled up like that, a fit like that is bound to happen again. It has been well documented in our society. It's why Hogwarts, the school we all went to, insists on Muggle-born children attending. If they don't learn to work magic properly, it bottles up and is released at the worst time, which is dangerous to both the child and those around them. That will happen to Matt again, and we may not be around to save him. We barely were the first time. If it weren't for Draco Malfoy, of all people, your son would be dead."

"So you're saying that we have no choice?" Robert asked, slightly irritated.

"We would rather not have," Bill said wryly. "But, yes, that's what we're saying. We won't kidnap him or anything like that, but we will have to insist on it."

"What exactly would it be?" Wendy asked.

"Much like education at Hogwarts was for us," Bill said. "Except we won't force him to stay with us, because it would be unfair to him and to you. He will basically come to Number Twelve five days a week, and we'll all teach him various subjects. Then he can go home every afternoon."

"What about his proper schooling?" Wendy asked. Hermione looked at her with an odd look.

"I'm afraid he will have to be taken out of Muggle school," Hermione said. Wendy and Robert both started to protest. "I know that it isn't ideal, but it's either that or he will have to deal with two lots of schooling, which I'm sure you recognise is just too much."

"He's only ten," Robert said. "Can't it wait?"

"Trust me, I understand," Hermione said. "I'm Muggle-born myself, and I had to be taken out of my school to go to Hogwarts. I was very good, too. It's just necessary. That is all we can say. We will probably wait until he's eleven anyway."

"Don't I get a say?" Matt asked. He was sitting next to Luna, and she saw that he was stuck somewhere between awe and annoyance. "I want to do it."

"That's all well and good," Wendy told her son, "but this isn't some choice that you just make. There's more to it than that."

"It's dangerous," Matt said simply. Luna wasn't surprised that he had grasped it all so well. She could tell that he was a smart kid. "It will be dangerous whether I get taught or not."

"He's right," Luna put in. "If he doesn't get taught by us, chances are his magic will kill him. If we teach him, we will do our best to keep him out of the world we live in, so he's in very little danger. We understand the position you're in, but you must understand that it is vital that he learns what he can. And that means in everything that he can."

"Can't you just teach him enough so that it doesn't kill him?" Wendy asked, pained. "Like tutoring?"

"I don't think that would be enough," Hermione said. "He has to get used to using magic. After some time, he won't be dangerous to himself. When that time comes, maybe we can talk about stopping it."

"You're not going to let us choose any other way, are you?" Robert asked gloomily.

"I'm afraid not," Bill told him.

"You said you wouldn't start until he's eleven," Robert said. "Why?"

"It gives us time to get ourselves organised," Hermione said. "We need to find someone who can either make Matt a wand or supply one for him. There's probably one in France, now that I think about it. Plus, Hogwarts started when we were eleven, so it makes sense to continue that."

"His birthday is June the 9th," Robert explained. "Is he in any danger until then?"

"We can't know," Ginny said. "The only information we have about his situation is limited, so we can't know what will happen. It may be that he will have another fit. The fact that he is doing accidental magic is likely a good sign. That's how magic usually acts before the age of eleven."

"Okay, fine," Robert said gruffly after looking at his wife. "We'll allow this. Until the end of this school year, Matt will continue to go to school. After that, we will withdraw him and you can teach him. If things change in the future, we want to know that you will allow us to withdraw him."

"If we think it's safe to, we will allow it in the future," Bill said calmly.

"What about costs?" Wendy asked. Bill shook his head.

"We have more than enough money," he said. "We will do it and provide everything Matt needs for free. You don't need to pay us anything."

"That is a relief," Wendy said. Luna thought it was slightly sarcastic, but she could also tell that there was something of true relief in her voice.

"The good thing is that we can monitor Matt until then," Ginny said. "Angelina is his teacher, so if anything happens during school time, she can call us. If it happens here, you can call us. He will be safe until then, I promise."

"That said, we still think you should move," Bill said. Robert shook his head.

"We just moved here," he replied. "We don't have the time or money to move again."

"Even with Greyback potentially showing up?" Luna asked. All eyes turned to her.

"We can't," Wendy said. "Don't think we aren't taking you all seriously, because we are. You've put those ward things up, so you can get here as fast as possible, right? Even if you didn't, I think we can take a wolf." _You can't_, Luna thought glumly.

"The wards will have to do then," Bill said, resignedly. Bill had put up wards around the house that would inform him if anyone with ill intent tried to enter the home, or even get near it. If it happened, Luna and the others would be there in a heartbeat. That was effectively the end of the discussion. Luna said her goodbyes to Wendy and Robert before leaning down to Matt.

"Be careful, okay?" Luna whispered. "If you see anything strange, don't hesitate to tell your parents. They'll tell us." Matt nodded and Luna smiled, which in turn led the boy to do the same.

The next day, Ginny gave Luna a flask with a light pink liquid in it. The potion was ready, and Luna knew that she would only have about twenty-four hours to use it. Luckily, Bill and Fleur were at Grimmauld Place, so Luna was able to head straight to Shell Cottage without any delays.

Not wanting to waste any time, Luna sat on the floor of the living room with her legs crossed. She started to breathe in and out slowly, looking at the flask. She and the others had learned how to use Occlumency, and the book had said that that particular skill could come in handy for a potential Seer. Luna closed her mind as she knew how to, and then drank the contents of the flask.

The effects were almost instant. Luna began to feel drowsy, though she found that she didn't, or perhaps couldn't, move from the position she was in. Slowly the colour of Shell Cottage faded away, leaving Luna sitting on the non-existent floor, surrounded by only the darkest dark. Luna was focusing on the exercises that she had found most useful for emptying her mind. She did not know how long she sat in the silent dark before some colour started to return, but not recreating Shell Cottage. It, instead, formed itself into something entirely different.

Luna found herself sitting on the wooden floor of a long hallway. The hallway was dimly lit, though Luna couldn't tell where it was lit from. The hallway stretched before her and she observed that there was a wall at the end that appeared to be home to a painting that her eyes could not seem to make out, despite her being a short distance away. There were more frames hanging along the walls of the hallway as well, though Luna could not tell what they were from where she sat either. She could see three doorways, two on the right and one on the left. Other than that, there was nothing remarkable or even recognisable about the hallway.

Luna soon realised that she could once again move and she got to her feet, though she now felt light as a feather. As she walked, she could feel the varnished floor under her feet, and yet it never felt as though she so much as touched it. Before the first door on the right, she saw a small frame hanging on the wall. She looked at it. She recognised it immediately. It was the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. She made a mental note that they must be more important than they had originally thought before moving on.

On the opposite wall was another frame, bigger this time. It was a painting of a man with a hood over his head and the rest of his face covered by a bandana. As Luna watched, the man in the painting removed his glove and showed his burned hand, all the while not looking away from Luna, making it seem as though the movement was all for her. She wanted to speak, but her mouth would not move. She looked into the eyes of the painting for a moment, seeing the torture and pain within, before turning to the first door on the right.

She reached out with a shaky hand and turned the doorknob on the door, pushing it open as she did. When she walked through the door into the darkness, she looked over her shoulder and saw that the door remained open, the hallway just visible through it. When she turned back, she was treated to an image of a beautiful white palace, surrounded by massive amounts of bright, blooming flowers and blossoming trees. Every so often there was a fountain flowing with pristine, crystal clear water. The colours were bright and Luna could almost feel the peace that radiated off the palace itself.

Suddenly, as if from absolutely nowhere, there was an ear-piercing shriek and Luna's hands went straight to her ears and her eyes instinctively closed in an effort to block out the noise. It appeared to be in vain as the noise continued to get louder and louder. The shriek was inhuman, and went on for what seemed to be hours. When it finally and abruptly ceased, Luna opened her eyes and saw that the Palace was gone, replaced by a sickening green all around her. As Luna watched, a few drops of dark blood fell past her face. It was at that moment that she noticed unidentified pieces of flesh falling in front of her. She was pulled out of the door in an instant, and was back in the hallway. She tried the doorknob again, but found that she couldn't open it any more.

Luna's ears stopped ringing after a moment and she turned to face the hallway again. She saw yet another frame to her left. She looked at it. It was larger than the second one, and was a painting of Hogwarts. It was moving, and there were students happily playing in the grounds. In the bottom left corner of the painting was a signature that Luna didn't recognise.

The next door was on the left. Luna suddenly felt compelled not to open it, but found herself doing so anyway. She wondered to herself if she even had a choice in what was happening to her at the moment. _Free will doesn't seem to be in effect here_, Luna noted in her head as the door opened in front of her.

When she opened it, she saw only darkness. She expected it to change, as it had in the first room, but it didn't. The darkness remained as resolute as always. Luna was convinced that she could hear someone's heavy breathing. She quickly worked out that it was not her own, as she realised that she wasn't actually breathing at all herself. Then someone screamed. It didn't last longer than ten seconds, but it was so pained that it hurt Luna to hear it.

"I'm not going to beg you," a deep male voice said, breathing heavily again. "Not now. Not ever."

The next voice was one Luna chilled Luna to her very bones. It was a voice she had heard only a few times in her lifetime, but she would never forget it for as long as she lived. A voice that would inspire fear even in Godric Gryffindor himself.

"We'll see," Voldemort said, his voice a mixture of annoyance and pleasure that sickened Luna.

The male voice screamed again as Luna was forcibly pulled from the room, as she had been before.

Luna turned once again to the hallway. Next to the door, there was another frame on the wall. This time it was not a painting, but a still image of the entrance to the Department of Mysteries with a red circle around it. Luna remembered the Department of Mysteries well from her Fourth Year when she had followed Harry Potter into battle, something that she was proud to have done.

Luna came upon the final door in the hallway, and turned the next doorknob. Once again, she found herself in darkness. She blinked once and found, suddenly, that she was standing in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. She glanced behind her to see the door was still open. Luna noticed that she was standing at the edge of the great fountain, looking out over a large group of people, their faces obscured somehow, as if they didn't even have any. There were three people on their knees in front of her, so Luna walked around them to get a better look, and gasped.

Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell were on their knees in front of a crowd of people. _An execution_, Luna realised. She looked next to them, and saw Gilderoy Lockhart, dressed all in pink except for his golden cape and his blue vest. She saw him holding three wands in his hands. She felt something and turned around just in time to see Voldemort apparate into the Atrium in a cloud of black smoke. His red eyes gleamed like rubies.

Luna was pulled out of that room, and found herself once again in the hallway, staring at the door. She felt as though she should be upset but somehow her body didn't register it. Or, perhaps more likely, couldn't. Despite her misgivings, she turned and looked towards the final painting at the end of the hallway.

It was a Muggle painting, as it didn't move, that looked eerily similar to a picture she had once seen taken by Colin Creevey during one of the Dumbledore's Army meetings. It was different to that particular picture, however, as there were different people involved, some who Luna easily recognised and others that she didn't. They were all standing in the Great Hall, smiles on their faces. Luna thought that they looked older than they should. It was only as she saw the area around her start to go black and start encroaching in on her that she realised that there were people disappearing quickly from the painting as she looked at it in horror. Her heart started racing and she tried to see who had disappeared.

It was all in vain however, as the darkness soon enveloped her completely. The colour came back after only a moment, and Luna found herself once again sitting on the floor of Shell Cottage. She checked her watch, and only a minute had passed.


	12. The First Full Moon

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 12**_

_**The First Full Moon**_

"_When you can look a thing dead in the eye, acknowledge that it exists, call it exactly what it is, and decide what role it will take in your life then, my Beloved, you have taken the first step toward your freedom."_  
\- Iyanla Vanzant

_**Angelina Johnson**_

_**7th December, 2003**_

Angelina was spending her Sunday night at Grimmauld Place, as Ginny had suggested that she visit them the night before the night of the first full moon after she had been bitten by Greyback. Ginny had worked out how to make the Wolfsbane Potion, so Angelina would not be a threat to herself or others during the period of the transformation itself, which was a relief to not only Angelina, but to everyone else as well. As well as this, the six at Grimmauld Place offered to let her stay at the house for the duration of the transformation. Angelina knew that this was more for the benefit of everyone else than for herself, but she knew that was how it had to be and accepted it.

The morning that Angelina was bitten had been a Monday, so she had to miss a day's work. Luckily for her, Alicia managed to contact the school and tell them that she would not be in. Thankfully, mostly due to Ginny's help, Angelina was on her feet and well enough to go to work on the Tuesday, though she knew that she looked a bit worse for wear. She had only the faintest scar on her leg, which had surprised her. Once again, Ginny had done her best for her and Angelina was eternally grateful. The fact that she had acted so quickly had helped things. Angelina was well aware that she might have died had Ginny not been there, which was even more disturbing given the circumstances.

When Angelina had found out who had saved her, she was quite shocked. She had lived under the assumption for years that these people had all died in the Battle of Hogwarts, or at least the ones that she knew. She had not really known Bill or Charlie Weasley very well at all, though she had met Bill once or twice over the years. The others she was acquainted with, if not fairly close to. She quickly, and hopefully, asked if the twins had survived as well. When they had told her they hadn't, Angelina felt upset with herself for getting her hopes up. She tried not to dwell on it, however, and attempted to focus on the people that had survived. It was nothing short of miraculous that anyone had survived that fire, and Angelina knew that she couldn't ask for more than that.

She had come to just after Draco Malfoy and his wife had left, leaving everyone else to fill her in about what had happened in regards to the Malfoys. While she was slow to trust that Draco Malfoy, of all people, could be trusted, she had come to the conclusion that people could change. Angelina had always tried to believe in the best in people, even when others might not.

She had been quite excited when everyone talked about ways to bring down the Ministry the day that she was bitten. She told them that she would help as much as she could, and Alicia and Katie agreed. As much as they wished to just be able to live their lives peacefully without worrying about the magical world and what was going on there, there was always a sense of guilt that they had let this happen. She wanted to fight back, even if it was in a limited capacity. If she could do something to help others, she most certainly would.

"This is going to taste really foul," Ginny said, giving the potion to Angelina in an urn-like casing. "Under no circumstances try to make it taste better. Sugar makes the potion useless if it's added to it."

"When do I take it?" Angelina asked stoically.

"I would suggest tomorrow morning," Ginny replied. "Although it says that the potion stays in your system for a few days, and will still have the same results."

"Tomorrow it is," Angelina replied, sitting the potion on the coffee table in front of her. "Will I be able to work tomorrow?"

"You should," Ginny responded. "You might feel a bit more aggravated than usual, but it should be fine. You might want to take a calming potion before you go to work. I've read that it can be helpful to do that."

"And Tuesday?" Angelina asked hopefully. Ginny looked dubious.

"I don't know," Hermione put in. Angelina was alone with just the two of them. Katie was at work, and Alicia had stayed at home. "Remus always used to take a few days off."

"I'd rather not do that," Angelina said. "It would get suspicious after a while."

"I might be able to try and make a few potions," Ginny mused. "We might be able to make something to sustain you through classes, but afterwards, you'll have to just get through it yourself."

"That's all I'm asking," Angelina replied.

"If it's too bad, just don't go," Hermione said seriously. "The first time is likely going to be the worst that you will experience. We don't really know what it will be like."

"I'm sure it will be fine," Angelina asserted. Hermione and Ginny shared a look, but said nothing. "It will."

"We'll see I guess," Ginny said.

"How has Matt been in class?" Hermione asked, obviously trying to change the subject. Angelina smiled.

"It's actually funny how much he's changed," she said with a laugh. "He treats me with more respect. Not that he didn't before, of course, but it's more pronounced now."

"Did he tell you that we're going to teach him?" Hermione asked. Angelina nodded.

"He was smart about it too," she said, a slight amount of pride in her tone. "He stayed behind when everyone else had left the classroom and told me. It's the obvious idea. Did you find out how he got the abilities?"

Hermione and Ginny explained to Angelina just what they had discovered, not going into great detail. Angelina felt that what they had discovered made sense, and expressed surprise that something like this wasn't more well-known. She realised as soon as she said it why it wasn't.

"Have you given any thought to teaching other kids?" Angelina asked. Hermione and Ginny looked confused.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. "I mean, we're going to teach Victoire and Louis when they're old enough, but that's hardly soon."

"I mean other Muggle-borns," Angelina explained. "There has to be more out there."

"We really hadn't given it any thought," Ginny said, as Hermione said nothing. Angelina noticed that she was thinking.

"Malfoy told us that the Ministry was rounding up the Muggle-born kids and killing them and their families," Hermione said, a sickened look on her face. "He said they do it for newborns and for kids that turn eleven. Apparently they have to do it that way, because there isn't a way to track the ones in between."

"Well, doesn't that mean there are Muggle-born children out there still alive?" Angelina asked, doing some math in her head. "It's been five years since You-Know-Who took over, right? So that means that there are five years' worth of eleven year olds found and murdered. This year, the Muggle-borns they find would have been six when he took over."

"That leaves all the kids younger than that!" Hermione exclaimed. "They're all still alive, but when they turn eleven, they'll be killed. Oh god."

"We need to do something," Ginny said, a pained look on her face. "We can't let this happen."

"We'll help when we can," Angelina said fervently, meaning herself, Alicia and Katie.

"I need to talk to Malfoy," Hermione said quickly.

"What if they have visitors?" Ginny asked, just as Hermione moved to the fireplace.

"I hadn't thought of that," Hermione admitted.

"I think you just need to calm down," Ginny said. "You can't do anything just this minute. Why not send your Patronus? You can make it so that Malfoy only sees it if he is alone or with Astoria. That way, it's safe."

"I should have thought of that," Hermione said, obviously annoyed with herself.

"You feel passionately about the Muggle-born issue," Angelina told her softly. "It makes sense you might not think things through."

Hermione sent her silver otter with a message for Malfoy, who appeared a few minutes later alone. Angelina couldn't help but feel a rush of negative feelings when he appeared, but soon suppressed them, telling herself that he was working for the same thing that they were and that people could change.

"Astoria sends her apologies," Malfoy said politely, something which Angelina was shocked to hear. "She has had a long week and needed some rest today. What's the problem?"

Hermione explained what they had just worked out, and Malfoy looked intrigued as well.

"I'm afraid to say that this thought never occurred to me," he admitted, almost sheepishly. "A by-product of the way I was brought up, most likely. I rarely think of Muggle-borns."

"So what can we do?" Hermione asked. "There are kids out there that will die if we don't do anything."

"I can only tell you what I know," Malfoy said, sitting down. "The way I've been told that it is working, and since I heard about it from Father makes it somewhat reliable, is that they are using the object that dispenses the Trace onto children born with magical abilities. Whenever the object gives a kid the Trace, which is done purely magically with no interaction necessary on the child's part, there is a notification of it having been done. This notification is then handed to someone who checks with various sources. If the child is one that has been born from a Pureblood marriage, and one that has been allowed by the Ministry, there is no action taken. If it is unregistered, the Death Eaters go after them. Response times vary, however."

"Why didn't they come after Fleur?" Ginny asked. Malfoy shrugged.

"Astoria told me that the first child was born in France," he replied. "As such, the Trace would not be given to the child until it took up residence somewhere closer. It's due to restrictions set down by each separate Ministry. The French have their own, so it's their law. I assume someone used something to stop a Trace on her?"

"I did," Hermione said. "Pretty much as soon as Fleur brought Victoire here, I did it. I did it straight away with Louis, though, as he was born here."

"There's your reason," Malfoy said, nodding, and with a smile on his face. He almost looked likable. "As I said, response times vary. Good work, Granger. They might not have been able to track you here, because of the Fidelius, but they would have recognised the Weasley name pretty quickly. Since you acted fast, it mustn't have registered with them quick enough, and then it was gone."

"So if we want to stop that, what would we have to do?" Angelina asked. Malfoy eyed her oddly, as if he was seeing her for the first time.

"There's a list of all of the current witches and wizards with the trace on them in the Department of Magical Information," Malfoy replied. "It's not unlike the Hogwarts admittance list, actually. When a new person has the Trace applied to them, they are added to the list, along with a vague area where they live. Fortunately, for the sake of privacy, the words on the list cannot be seen by anyone after the birth name is verified by someone whose mind was always altered to make them forget the child and their address. That is no longer in place. That means that only those born after the Dark Lord's ascension can be found. Not specific like for Hogwarts. If you wanted to stop the attacks, you would have to get the Hogwarts one."

"Why don't they just use the Hogwarts list?" Hermione asked.

"It's somewhat impractical," he replied. "There are no notifications on that list, so it's easier to just go with the one that does the notifying for them."

A silence fell upon the room, as they all attempted to process the information. It was horrific, Angelina knew, but there was also something genius about it.

"Could you get it?" Ginny asked.

"No," Hermione and Malfoy said at the same time. They looked at each other. Draco looked surprised, though Hermione just smiled and said, "I am capable of common sense you know."

"I can't," Malfoy said, apparently ignoring the last comment. "Not that I wouldn't if I could, but for now my worth is being able to get information like this. Trying to gain this one thing would perhaps have a positive effect, but if I were caught it would be worse for us. You have to weigh risk for reward."

"How would you suggest we get it?" Angelina asked.

"If I'm being honest with you, I don't think you should try at all," Malfoy said bluntly. All three women shot him glances. "Don't look at me like that. I don't like them dying any less than you do. It's pretty much the reason I'm trying to work against them. You just have to try to be unbiased about the situation. If you try to infiltrate the Ministry, there's a high chance you will be found out. And if Granger here is found, or even Ginny, there would be an outcry and the rest of you would be hunted until you are killed. I can't get it without risking myself and Astoria and we are, at this moment, important to the cause."

"I can't stand by and let innocents die," Hermione said angrily. Angelina agreed with her, but found that she understood Malfoy's argument as well.

"Innocents always die," Malfoy said simply. It didn't seem to Angelina as though he was trying to be blunt or disrespectful. He was trying to make Hermione understand. "Our job isn't to protect them, it's to stop the people doing the killing. We can't do that if we blunder into things and hoping for the best."

"I know that," Hermione said.

"No, you don't," Malfoy said sharply. "This is the kind of stuff I was taught as a kid. While you were at Muggle school learning whatever it was that they taught you, my Father was teaching me how the world works. He was teaching me, because he knew that the Dark Lord would return. He never said it explicitly, but he knew it. He also knew that I would want to follow in his footsteps, so I had to know things like this if I was to be useful at all. This is second nature to me. I understand the emotions involved. I've seen more than my share of Muggle-born family executions. There is just more to it than emotions. The Dark Lord is the target, not Muggle-borns."

"Can't they both be?" Hermione asked. Ginny was being suspiciously quiet, Angelina noted.

"Perhaps, I'll admit," Malfoy replied. "But the circumstances have to be that there is more reward than risk. At the moment, the people in this house, Angelina's house and Astoria are the only people we know of that are fighting against the Dark Lord. If we're the only ones, we cannot take risks like that lightly."

There was silence in the room once again, as Angelina saw Hermione thinking. She looked pained, and Angelina could understand the feeling. She didn't like it either, but she could see Malfoy's point.

"He's right, Hermione," Ginny said quietly. "You know he is. It's a terrible thing to think that there will be more deaths, but we might be the only ones who can actually end this."

"Fine," Hermione said angrily. "We won't do anything. What about the ones who turn eleven?" Angelina had actually forgotten about that.

"The Hogwarts list was found in McGonagall's office," Malfoy explained. "The Dark Lord had the Unspeakables move it to the Department of Magical Information for ease of access to those that needed it."

"The Unspeakables?" Angelina said, slightly surprised. Malfoy nodded.

"They were the only people who knew how to move it without stopping the charms on it," he explained. "It's still working and when a person turns eleven, their name flashes and their location is given to those that need it. For the most part this isn't useful, but if the children on the list are Muggle-born, the Deputy Head, who had been McGonagall for so long, was required to make a visit to explain things to the families. This means that there is a notification on the list in the form of a rather sharp wail. So people don't need to monitor it, only wait for the notification. As a result, it's easier for the Ministry to find out where the Muggle-borns are when they need to attack."

"I suppose getting both would still be too risky?" Hermione asked with less anger. Angelina assumed that she was becoming resigned to the idea. "Even if we used polyjuice potion?"

"Unfortunately, that is being cracked down upon after it was revealed that you, Potter and Weasley came into the Ministry using it," Malfoy said, smiling wryly. "I admit, that was genius. Albert Runcorn was a bad choice, though. He pieced it together pretty quickly and told those in charge. Now there are people who check every day. The only people who aren't checked regularly are those that are higher up. It is believed that they are protected well-enough that to check them would be a wasted resource. So, people like Father, Yaxley or even Lockhart aren't checked, but normal workers are."

"Okay, that's good to know," Ginny put in before Hermione could speak. "That would have been disastrous had we tried that."

"Let me say, that it isn't a bad idea," Malfoy said, almost nicely. "If there is ever a chance, take it, but only if there is a very large probability of success. Whether you like it or not, we are likely the most important people in all of Britain at the moment, and we can't squander that by getting ourselves killed. People are relying on us, even if they don't know it."

With that, Malfoy stood up, said his goodbyes and used the fireplace to go back home. Angelina decided to do the same. She felt that Hermione would need to discuss things with the others, and she felt that it was not necessary for her to be there when they talked about those things.

That night, Angelina wrestled with what Malfoy had said. She knew that he made sense, though she was finding it difficult to believe that anything she was doing was important, but she couldn't help but think about all the people that would die because they didn't take the risk. She decided to look at it a different way. She couldn't do anything about it, so those deaths should lay at the door of those who commit the murders, not her.

The next day was a long one. Angelina had taken the Wolfsbane Potion before eating breakfast. It was the foulest thing she could remember tasting, and she had once been a tester for some of Fred and George's pranks, which often were pretty disgusting. She was, as Ginny had predicted, more irritable as well. She took a calming potion before classes and it helped at least a bit. She found that she was sometimes short with her students, but they either didn't mind or didn't notice. At lunch, Matt approached her as she was leaving the Staff Room. She walked with him to the empty classroom.

"It's the full moon tonight," Matt said simply.

"Yes, it is," Angelina replied. "Apparently I'll change tonight."

"I know," Matt said.

"Does that frighten you?" Angelina asked. Matt shook his head. "Why not?"

"Because you aren't like Greyback," Matt said sincerely. "You're actually nice. You won't hurt anyone."

"No, I won't," Angelina agreed. "I promise."

"What will happen?" Matt asked quietly. Angelina felt like not telling him would be wrong.

"When the full moon rises, I will transform into a wolf, like Greyback," she explained. "Because Ginny gave me a potion to have this morning, I won't change completely. I will keep my mind at least. I'll be locked into a room at Grimmauld Place, and the door will be completely reinforced. They told me that Remus Lupin used to just sleep through it all, so I think that's what I'll try to do."

"You'll be alone?" Matt asked sadly. Angelina nodded.

"I will, but I'll be fine," she said quietly. "I would rather be alone than have the chance of attacking someone else."

"I didn't think of it like that," Matt said. "We're staying at Grimmauld Place too."

"I know," Angelina replied. "It's a good idea, and it means that you'll be safe. We never know what Greyback might do."

The rest of the day went by smoothly. The class was as usual, and Angelina was glad for it. She wondered to herself what might have happened had they been noisier than usual. She didn't like to think that she might ever yell at them in anger, but she felt that in the state she was in, it was a distinct possibility. Occasionally she saw Matt looking at her, either looking sad or worried. She thought it was nice that he was so worried for her, but she wished that he didn't have to be.

When the time came, Angelina, Alicia and Katie all travelled through their fireplace to Grimmauld Place. Bill had connected their fireplace to Grimmauld Place's, but left it out of the Ministry's. Angelina wasn't sure how it worked, but it did. As it was, it was the only place they would want to go to utilising the Floo network anyway. Angelina had tried to convince Alicia and Katie to stay at home, but both of them insisted on staying at Grimmauld Place. There were certainly enough rooms, to be sure.

"Hermione told us what you talked about yesterday," Bill said, handing a plate to Angelina. She was having an early dinner since she had to go through the transformation. "About the Muggle-borns. It's a nice idea, but Draco's right. As much as we might want to do it, the Ministry is the riskiest place to go at this point."

"Angelina told us too," Katie said. "I actually think I agree with Malfoy as well. Wow, look at that! I said that without retching."

"He's not that bad," Fleur put in.

"I know," Katie replied with a smile. "I'm just having a bit of a hard time adjusting, that's all."

"He wasn't exactly friendly at Hogwarts," Alicia said.

"What matters is now," Angelina told her two friends. "As far as we can tell, Malfoy is working for the same cause as us. As far as I'm concerned, he could crack every joke about us he likes if he can work out how we can beat all of this."

"Fortunately he seems to be making few jokes _and_ working against the Ministry," Bill said. "Win-win situation for everyone."

"What are you doing with the kids tonight?" Angelina asked. Fleur had Louis with her at the time, and the boy was playing with Fleur's naturally beautiful blonde hair.

"I will stay with them at Shell Cottage," Fleur replied. "Luna volunteered to stay with me to help. Bill will stay here in case something happens. Not that it will, of course."

"It's fine," Angelina said with a laugh. "Not wanting to have your kids around a werewolf seems like a reasonable thing to want. I don't mind, really."

"Thank you for understanding," Fleur said with a sigh. "My children are the most important things in my life. I know Bill feels the same way about them."

"I do," Bill replied, smiling at his wife and kissing the top of his son's head. "I see he likes your hair as much as I do."

Just before the sunset, Alicia and Katie hugged Angelina and wished her well. Angelina was also surprised to find that Matt hugged her as well, as his parents smiled. They knew what was coming, and Angelina assumed that they were proud that Matt cared about her.

Charlie had organised a room for Angelina that had a bed, but nothing else in it, mostly because it was said that the first transformation could be disorientating and he didn't want her to hurt herself on any furniture. Angelina was grateful, but wondered if it was entirely warranted. She figured that the bed would be helpful, although she couldn't help but wish the room were more furnished.

She entered into the nearly empty room. There was the king-sized bed against the far wall, and one solitary window near the roof. It was so high up that Angelina, as tall as she was, couldn't reach it. She figured that this was why they chose this particular room. She wouldn't be able to escape through a window at all. She sat down on the bed and waited, wringing her hands the whole time.

She had tried to convince herself since being bitten that she was not a werewolf. That maybe Ginny had gotten to her quick enough to stop the spread of the disease. Even in the last few days she had tried to pass off her change in character as something simpler, and not related to any wolfish qualities. Just to get to sleep at night she found herself telling herself that she wasn't a werewolf, and that it was all just going to blow over. That when the full moon came around, nothing would happen. She would simply go on and live her life.

But there, in that small, empty room in Grimmauld Place, Angelina began to doubt herself, and it occurred to her that it was highly likely that she was a werewolf and that everything else she had been trying to convince herself of had been wishful thinking. She wanted to chide herself at her stupidity as she continued to look at her hands. She felt as though she had spent so long trying to fool herself into believing that nothing would happen, that when it happened it would be worse.

As the sunset started, Angelina undressed. She knew that clothes were not part of the transformation and would likely be ripped apart or rendered useless afterwards. She didn't want to take any chances, and left the clothes on the bed, which was the only place for them. There was a sudden chill and Angelina wished that her clothes did, in fact, stay with her as she shivered and tried to warm herself.

The room began to darken, and Angelina felt the childish urge to lay back on the bed and simply cry. She could feel, even at that moment, that something was beginning to happen to her. She could feel something changing. Not in her mind. Her mind was perfectly normal, perhaps more alert usual and spending more time worrying about her own well-being than was normal for her. It was something else. Something inside of her. Like something was awakening. Almost as if it was coming out from a deep sleep. It frightened her and she shivered again.

The moonlight came, and Angelina cried out in pain.

Her body was violently changing itself. Everything within her felt as though it was breaking and reforming itself. She could feel something almost worming its way out of her skin and her arms and legs changing. Bones were forming together in ways that were foreign to her anatomy, and she thought she could even hear the scraping of it happening. It was so painful, and yet she found that she could only stay still as she changed, screaming all the while. Her screams suddenly became muffled as her face began to change. It became somewhat heavier at the front and her teeth extended, causing her mouth pain as well.

This happened for less than a minute, though Angelina believed that it was far longer. It was pain like none she had ever experienced.

After it happened, Angelina felt different. She could feel the pain, even in the form she found herself in, but she somehow didn't mind it. The pain seemed dull and distant, as though it had happened to someone else entirely and she was simply remembering it. Angelina looked down at the floor and realised, as her newly acquired snout collided with the wood painfully, that she had misjudged the extent of the transformation.

Instinctively, she knew how to walk on four legs. Perhaps it was just part of the transformation that these things came more naturally. She padded around the room, sniffing. She could smell things much better than she could when she was a human. She smelt someone outside the door. She couldn't tell who it was, but they were there, guarding the door in case she got out.

The smell made her mind race. It was as if something was acting against a great impulse, like an alcoholic that had given up drinking. She felt a distant desire to chase that smell and rip it to pieces, but something else was stopping her from doing just that. It felt unnatural and yet right. Angelina knew that she didn't want to ravage anyone.

Her ears pricked up as she heard a baby crying, followed by a woosh of what she knew was flames. The crying stopped, and Angelina felt relieved as she knew who the child was, but the wolf didn't. The wolf was almost a different entity that Angelina happened to have limited control over, and she was hearing the cry loudly. Again there was an impulse that was not her own that was almost immediately shut down by something else. Something with far better intentions.

Angelina looked out of the small window she could see high above her on the wall. She could only just see the sky outside. She couldn't see the moon, but the wolfish instinct was too great. She let out a howl, looking out to the darkened sky outside. She wondered if they had put a silencing charm around the room as the howl continued, loud even to her own ears.

Realising that there was nothing else for her to do, Angelina looked to the bed. She leapt up to the mattress but misjudged the jump the first time, hitting the edge and falling backwards to the floorboards below. She got to her feet quickly and jumped again, realising for the first time that her hind legs were much stronger than she had believed, reaching the bed. On the bed she found where she had left her clothes and sniffed. She felt somehow connected to the clothes and curled up on top of her own jacket, comforted by the familiar scent, and soon fell to sleep.

In the morning, Angelina awoke to find the room lightened and herself back to her human form once again. She sat up and pain lanced through her body, not quite as unbearably as she had expected following her first ever transformation. She managed to stand and dress in her clothes from the previous night, though that took a great deal of effort and even more pain. She walked to the door gingerly and knocked once. Immediately the door came open and she saw Charlie standing in front of her.

"How do I look?" she asked, her voice somewhat hoarse.

"Like you've had a long night of drinking," Charlie joked. "You just look tired is all."

"I wish that was all," Angelina said grumpily. "The pain is incredible."

"Ginny told me that would be the case," Charlie said, handing her a flask. "Drink that. It'll last about ten hours."

Angelina looked at the potion and without even considering it, downed it in one gulp. It didn't taste as horrible as the Wolfsbane Potion did, which was a blessing. Within a minute, Angelina found that the pain had mostly disappeared, though her left leg still had some pain where she had been bitten.

"Wendy and Robert's house?" she asked simply.

"It doesn't seem to have been targeted," Charlie replied, and Angelina sighed in relief.

"Don't ever get bitten," she told Charlie seriously, rubbing her left leg before descending the stairs in Grimmauld Place with him at her side, propping her up slightly. "It's horrendous."

"Will you go to work?" Charlie asked after a moment. Angelina considered it.

"I can use makeup to make myself look better, and so long as the potion holds, I'll be fine," Angelina decided as she took the final step.


	13. Remembrance

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 13**_

_**Remembrance**_

"_Our memory is a more perfect world than the universe: it gives back life to those who no longer exist."  
_\- Guy de Maupassant

_**Justin Finch-Fletchley**_

_**12th December, 2003**_

"I was thinking," Susan said, and Justin turned the television down so he could give her his full attention. "It would be good for you to learn Occlumency."

"Zach keeps saying that," Justin admitted. "We just never got around to it because I never saw much reason. It isn't like I would need to use it all that much."

"It isn't just useful to defend against a Legilimens," Susan said. "There are other uses. It helps to free your mind up, helps you get to sleep easier and can even be used to organise your mind a bit better. I have this thing going on where my memories are in different, I guess rooms. It's hard to describe. Since I've had so much time to work on it, I've trained myself to be able to keep some rooms better protected than others."

"So if someone tried Legilimency on you, they would be able to see things easily, but only what you want them to see?" Justin asked. Susan grinned.

"Exactly," she replied. "So, my knowledge of you and Zach are stored in the most high priority room in my mind. Very few people can get into it, so you're pretty safe if anything happens to me. But information about my work with Xeno and Augusta aren't so well hidden since the Ministry already knows that I was involved there."

"Is it hard to learn?" Justin asked. Susan seemed to weigh it up.

"What I'm talking about, yeah," she admitted. "But if you learn general Occlumency, you should be able to fend off most attacks on your mind. Not that there will be many. Once you get used to that, then you can use the compartments method like I do."

"How did you learn?" Justin asked, genuinely interested.

"Aunt Amelia taught me," Susan said. "She also taught me a little Legilimency, but not much. Not many people knew that she was a Legilimens. She told me once that it's not an ability that people want others to know about. It makes them nervous, which is why she never told anyone else."

"How much Legilimency do you know?" Justin asked.

"Enough," Susan said simply. "I can get into peoples' minds and I can search for things generally. It's more difficult to search for specific things, though. I can also tell if someone's lying or not, at least in most cases."

"I didn't know that was part of it," Justin admitted. He liked talking to Susan about things like this because Susan actually had knowledge of the wizarding world above what someone her age would normally have. Amelia Bones had been, Justin knew from having met her a few times, an incredibly intelligent and powerful witch. She passed a lot of her knowledge down to Susan, as she had to raise her after Susan's parents died fighting Voldemort in the first War. "I thought it was just memory stuff."

"It's not a well-known aspect because it's possibly even more worrying for people," Susan replied. "Looking into memories is bad enough, but there are times when people lie, and they would rather not be found out. It makes people nervous even if they don't plan to lie. So most Legilimens keep that bit secret, and even fewer actively use that ability as proof. Aunt Amelia said that often lying tells people more than the truth does, and yet it wouldn't hold up in any form of justice. She told me that when she sees someone lying, instead of outright saying that they're lying, she would try and lead them to confess to the lie. It was easier that way. Not to mention much more acceptable legally."

"That makes sense," Justin said. "So do you think I could learn Occlumency?"

"If I can, you surely can," Susan said with a laugh. "I know you're modest and all, but you were always better at everything than I was. I just know more. Plus, if _Zach_ can do it, you definitely can."

"Hey!" Justin said, laughing. "That's my boyfriend you're poking fun at."

"I know, pity he isn't here," Susan said in mock sadness. Her tone changed then. "When did you see him last?"

"I've only seen him three times since the wedding," Justin said, slightly sadly. "The first time you know about because that was when I told him about you and the Cloak. I know it's important that he spend time with her, especially this early on. I just miss him."

"That sucks," Susan said.

"At least I have you now," Justin said, trying to cheer things up. "Plus this Occlumency stuff will keep me occupied."

"It'll get better," Susan said, ignoring the change in conversation. She used to do this a lot at Hogwarts, Justin remembered. "You and I both know that marriage won't last."

Justin felt an urge to tell her about Daphne Greengrass and Blaise Zabini, but kept his mouth shut. He knew that Susan would never tell anyone, but he knew that the more people that know about Daphne's plans, the more chances there are that it would fail. He had to keep it to himself until after the fact.

"Probably not," Justin agreed. "She'll probably be caught cheating sooner or later. But then he'll just have to get married again."

"Maybe by then something will have happened and it'll all be over," Susan suggested.

"We can hope," Justin replied. "It doesn't seem likely. Zach tells me that You-Know-Who has not slowed down, at least in Britain. He also told me that some people at the Ministry talk behind You-Know-Who's back about how he looks more ragged than he had before. He hasn't slowed down, he just looks different somehow."

"I've seen him," Susan admitted. "Just before I got away."

"What does he look like?" Justin asked. Susan raised an eyebrow. "Zach's never actually seen him before. He works in the Ministry, but he says that only the 'Inner Circle' sees him outside of the major executions, and Zach has never been to one of those before. Plus, he fled Hogwarts before You-Know-Who came into play, so he didn't see him then either."

"Okay," Susan said before taking a breath. "He looks like a monster. Not some fifteen foot tall black behemoth from Hell, but just a monster. He has no hair, so he's entirely bald, except that his skin is so thin and pale that you can see the veins in his skull. His eyes are like slits, and they're almost a blood red. He has no nose, only two holes for nostrils. His mouth is so pale it might as well be blue. The only thing about his head that seems normal are his ears. They somehow have maintained an actual human look about them throughout all these years and all the atrocities that he has committed. He's actually tall. Not Hagrid tall, but taller than you or I. But he's thin. Very thin. Almost anorexic in a way. When I saw him he was wearing a deep green robe which covered every part of his body except for his head and his hands. His hands are like two grey spiders, but his yellow fingernails are long and unkempt.

"I saw all of that in the few seconds I saw him before I used the Portkey," Susan explained finally. Justin was silent for a moment.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again," Justin said, a little mirth in his voice. "You have a way with words. He doesn't sound … human."

"He isn't," Susan assured him. "He hasn't been human for years now."

"Do you think he was at some time?" Justin asked curiously.

"I think so," Susan said. "I think there was a time in his life where he had some kind of humanity within him. But I think that was a long time ago now."

The two of them fell silent.

"Would you like to get started with Occlumency?" Susan asked finally. Justin nodded.

"What do I do?" he asked.

"First of all, I'm just going to teach you some exercises to do," Susan explained. "I want you to do them every night before you go to sleep. Practice whenever you can, and you'll get better.

"Wait," she said suddenly. "You need to know something about this."

"What?" Justin asked.

"We are going to get to a point in this where I will have to use Legilimency on you to test your defences," Susan explained warily. "And I'm sure you won't be able to resist me the first time, even though I am less experienced. Because I can't search for specific memories, I'll have to be vague. That means that I might find some … sensitive memories." Justin's face went slightly red.

"I don't care," he said finally. "I've been friends with you since First Year. I trust you completely. If you see anything like that, I think we're close enough that it won't matter. It isn't like you don't know it's in there."

"Well, let's just hope that it doesn't happen," Susan said finally.

"Did your Aunt see anything when she taught you?" Justin asked, smirking. Susan shook her head.

"I was thirteen when I started to learn Occlumency," she explained. "There wasn't all that much to see that I would be embarrassed about her seeing."

"Way to ruin it," Justin said, laughing. "Now I don't get to tease you. That's no fun at all."

For the remainder of the afternoon, Susan taught Justin several exercises to clear his mind and to also create a kind of shield against invaders. When Justin promised her that he would work on it, she decided to leave. Susan had been to Justin's home almost every day since Justin found out that she was still alive. She had been alone for so long, that it didn't surprise Justin at all that she would want company. It helped that he wanted some as well with Zach spending so much time away from him.

Zach had not spent very much time with Justin since the wedding. The few times they had been together, it hadn't been for very long because he could only get away for a short period of time. Mostly when Pansy was visiting her parents, which Justin gathered was fairly often. She mostly did that when Zach was at work, however, so Zach rarely went with her or had a chance to get away.

Justin figured that she wasn't actually visiting her parents at all. She was meeting with Blaise. He was pretty sure about that. It didn't seem that she would stop meeting him even though she's married. He wanted to start to hint to Zach that it may be a possibility, but he wasn't sure if it was too early in the marriage for Zach to start throwing around accusations. He got the feeling that it was an intricate plan that Daphne had crafted, and Justin felt left out of most of it. Justin had never been cunning. He had been considered for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw before being placed in Hufflepuff. Never once did the old hat even consider Slytherin. Leave that to Daphne.

He spent the night hoping that Zach would show up at some point, though he never did. Time just went by and Justin kept reading his book. At around two o'clock in the morning, he decided to just go to sleep. He spent fifteen minutes doing his Occlumency exercises as Susan had taught him and fell to sleep quicker than he could remember having done so before.

He awoke and saw that it was just after ten in the morning. He usually slept longer, but found himself much more refreshed than usual, and he attributed that to the Occlumency exercises. He made a mental not to thank Susan when he could.

When he walked into the kitchen, he realised that he could smell bacon cooking. His heart started racing and he moved more quickly to the kitchen. It was not Zach that he found, but Daphne.

"I wondered when you would get up," Daphne commented. "Is that how long Muggles usually sleep?"

"How did you –" Justin began to ask, but cut himself off. "Magic. Right. And, no, Muggles don't really sleep differently to people with magical abilities. I just don't have much to be awake for, really."

"I see," Daphne replied, turning over an egg. "I'm sure you don't mind. I was going to make you breakfast in bed, though I hadn't decided if I would wake you up or just drop an egg on your face. It's terribly impolite to sleep while you have a visitor."

"It's also impolite to barge into someone else's home and just start cooking," Justin shot back, which made Daphne laugh.

"Indeed," she replied. "Apologies for that. I just felt the need to see you again. It's been a while, and there are things we both need to know."

"Do you mind if I actually freshen up first?" Justin asked, slightly embarrassed. "I'm not used to people being in my house when I wake up. Even Zach has the courtesy to knock."

"I did knock," Daphne protested innocently. "When you didn't answer, well I had to come inside and make sure you were okay. When I found you sleeping, I couldn't very well leave, could I? That would be just a bit too odd. Entering someone's house and leaving before they even know you were there. For all you know, I could have stolen something."

"Right, well I do need to actually have a shower," Justin replied. He found that he actually quite liked Daphne, despite the circumstances.

"Breakfast will be done when you are I suspect," Daphne said as Justin left the kitchen. As he walked down the hallway he heard her say, "Muggles are fascinating." Justin wondered if she knew just what she was doing. He assumed that she did.

When he was done, Daphne was true to her word, and there was a plate of eggs and bacon on the kitchen table waiting for him.

"Thank you," Justin said as he sat down opposite Daphne. She just smiled.

"It's the least I could do, all jokes aside," she replied, eating some that she had prepared for herself. "I don't often use Muggle technology for cooking. It isn't all that different from magical stuff, really."

"Why are you so fascinated with Muggle things?" Justin asked her, thinking back to her telling him about the television she had made Blaise buy her. "You're a pure-blood, aren't you?"

"I am," Daphne said. "My family has remained pure-blood for centuries. Admittedly, there have been times when our family has been less than kind to Muggles, but the family has softened for the most part. My parents aren't exactly going to start living like Muggles, and frankly nor am I, but we are somewhat more appreciative of them. It's why my family never sided with the Death Eaters, even the first time."

"Why didn't you fight with Dumbledore?" Justin asked.

"My parents never saw it like that," Daphne said. "They didn't want You-Know-Who to win, but they knew that people in wars die. To them it wasn't so much that there were two sides. They picked the third side, and they lived through it. Look at the Prewett family. Or the Bones family. They fought on Dumbledore's side, and the families damn near died out. We didn't want that."

"I guess I get that," Justin said, though he wondered how the first war might have gone had the fence-sitters chosen a side.

"I didn't come here to talk about this though," Daphne said. "I wanted to know how things are with Zacharias."

"I haven't seen him much," Justin admitted. "Things seem to be going okay. He has a potion so he can fulfil his duties as husband."

"Good thinking," Daphne said. "I assume it was you who thought of it. I meant to tell you that when we met last, but we were interrupted. Things might have gone badly had you not thought of that."

"He doesn't like it," Justin said. Daphne laughed, and Justin shot her a look.

"Sorry," she said, her smile slowly disappearing. "I don't blame him. I wouldn't enjoy doing that with a woman. I guess I was just thinking about the idea of myself with a woman. But don't worry, he won't get her pregnant."

"How do you know that?" Justin asked in some surprise.

"She's cheating on her husband with a man who's cheating on his wife," Daphne explained. "Do you think she wants to end up taking chances? It's pretty easy to find out whose baby she eventually has. Pansy isn't stupid, unfortunately."

"Actually, I was wondering about this," Justin put in. "Do you want me to start hinting at it right away, or after some time?"

"I would say the longer the better," Daphne replied. "It hasn't even been a month yet. It isn't unheard of for people in marriage contracts to make stuff like that up to get out of a marriage they don't want to be a part of. The longer they're married, the better."

"What if Zach finds out for himself?" Justin asked. Daphne shrugged.

"If he finds out, he'll probably tell you first, right?" she asked.

"Probably, yeah," Justin said.

"That's what I thought," Daphne said, brushing a lock of hair from her eye. "Well, you'll have to stall him. Tell him what I've just said. Basically make him wait to reveal it. He'll listen to you won't he?"

"Yes, he will," Justin replied.

"Good. Then I won't have to be involved," Daphne said, picking up a piece of bacon and throwing it into her mouth. "Is there any particular reason why he might find out?"

"Pansy keeps saying that she's visiting her parents," Justin explained. Daphne nodded.

"That's the excuse Blaise uses," she replied. "'I'm just going to see my mother for a while, Daph. No, she doesn't like you, remember. It's best if you stay here.' He thinks he's being subtle. I've met his mother, and she doesn't seem to have an opinion on me one way or another, if I'm being honest. She's nice enough.

"Yeah, he might find out," Daphne continued. "If he does, I have all the faith in the world that you will make sure that he does what's necessary."

"And how long until I should start dropping hints?" Justin asked. "A few months?"

"I would give it at least three," Daphne replied after a moment. "Somewhere around March or April next year. It gives people enough time to see them as a couple and assume that things are going well. By that time it won't be odd for him to have discovered it, and I doubt anyone will look too deeply."

"Right," Justin said, though he was feeling quite upset. He didn't want to be doing this for another three months. He didn't like that Zach was married to her and he didn't like having to hide things from him. He did understand what Daphne was saying, it just wasn't making him overly happy.

"After that, everything will go smoothly," Daphne said, almost tenderly. "Trust me, I don't like this more than you do."

"No, I suppose you don't," Justin agreed. "It's easy to forget that you've got a cheating husband to deal with."

"But that's just it," Daphne said with a smile. "I'll deal with it."

Daphne didn't stay much longer after that. Justin finished his breakfast and was cleaning when Susan showed up.

"Was Zach here?" she asked, seeing that Justin was cleaning two plates.

"Uh, no," Justin said. "One of my neighbours came over and I offered them breakfast. They haven't long left."

"I thought you didn't like to talk to them much," Susan said.

"That isn't exactly what I meant," Justin replied with fake indignance. "It's just that we don't often talk, that's all."

"Oh, okay," Susan said. "Sorry I'm here early. I just wanted to continue the Occlumency from yesterday."

"I did those exercises last night," Justin said. "Thank you so much. I haven't slept that well in a long time."

"No problem," Susan replied with a light laugh. "I guess that's a good indication you've been doing them well enough."

Zach didn't show up for the remainder of the weekend, or through the following week. If Susan hadn't been visiting him every day, Justin would have become a nervous wreck. Justin wondered if the Occlumency exercises were helping with that as well. It would be one of many benefits of doing them. He was sleeping better, his mind was clearer and his concentration was at a level that rivalled the peak it reached during his revision for the O.W.L.s.

Susan had informed Justin that she wouldn't use Legilimency on him for at least a week after he first started the exercises. When it came to Friday afternoon, she decided that it was time to test it out on him.

"Remember, I'm probably going to get through," Susan said.

"I know," Justin said firmly. "You've said it all week. I need to get used to it before I can defend against it."

"I'm just worried that I might see something," Susan replied timidly.

"I've known you for most of my life, Susan," Justin said with a smile. "Other than Zach, you're the person I've been closest to in the world. I don't care what you might see. I trust you."

"If you say so," Susan said. She sounded a lot better. Justin knew that she would. She pointed her wand at Justin's head and Justin cleared his mind. "_Legilimens_."

Justin could feel her probing into his mind, and tried to resist. It almost felt like there were two forces in his mind meeting and he was pushing. Eventually he couldn't push anymore and Susan broke through to his memories.

He was seven and he had just fallen off his bike. His father was there helping him up, but Justin looked down at the gash on his knee. He started to panic and, all of a sudden, the wound healed itself, skin covering the wound and the blood that had seeped out disappeared.

"Let me look at it," his father said kindly. When he examined at Justin's knee and found nothing there, he smiled. "See? You're fine."

The image changed to when he was eleven and Professor McGonagall was sitting in the sitting room of his childhood home. He was feeling amazed and in awe of the older witch in front of him who demonstrated magical ability by floating her tea cup into the air, not spilling any of the contents. Justin's young mind was whirling and he could barely contain his excitement. Something that his parents were having a much better job of doing based on their shocked faces.

It changed again, and the surroundings changed to Diagon Alley. His first trip there, Justin could tell. His parents were with him, and his mother was keeping a tight hold of his hand, at least at the beginning. Everything around them had been so foreign that his parents were understandably wary of it all. That was until Justin managed to convince his parents to let him look at the wand shop. He managed to wriggle free of his mother's grasp and ran towards it, his heart beating in his chest.

Unfortunately, he ran right into an eleven year old girl with long red hair who was with an older, stern looking woman wearing a monocle.

"I'm sorry," Justin said to the girl. Susan smiled at him.

"You're Muggle-born aren't you?" she asked knowingly.

"Susan," Amelia said sternly. "That's not something you should ask right away."

"I am," Justin confirmed to both Susan and her Aunt. By that point, his parents had found their way to the shop.

Suddenly he was back in his living room. Susan lowered her wand.

"I had forgotten all about that," Susan admitted. "I forgot that we met at Diagon Alley."

"I know you did," Justin said with a weak smile. He found that it was somewhat draining trying to fight off Legilimency. "You introduced yourself that first night at Hogwarts, remember?"

"Well, anyway, you did alright at the beginning," Susan explained. "You resisted me for a little while, so there is some improvement there. If I had tried that a week ago, you wouldn't have been able to resist at all."

"That was pretty tiring," Justin admitted. "I didn't think it would be so difficult."

"It's because Occlumecy still technically uses magic," Susan explained. "Not when you're practicing or doing one of the exercises, but when you are actually fighting off Legilimency. It's why Muggles could organise their mind, but not fight off a Legilimens. If they can compartmentalise their memories, which is possible without magic, they can still hide things to a point. Or, at least, someone wouldn't see them right away. They would just have to look harder."

"So the actual stopping Legilimency uses a certain amount of magic, but not the organising of the mind?" Justin asked and Susan confirmed with a nod. "That explains why I'm a bit drained then."

"I think I would like to keep going," Susan said. "I wasn't going to stop there, except that I saw that memory. I just want to tell you that you can continue to try and fight against me during the memories. I know you experience them as I do, since I'm deliberately doing it that way, but you need to not be distracted. Just keep trying."

"I will," Justin said firmly.

"_Legilimens_," Susan said again. There was a moment when Justin resisted, not quite as long as the first time, and eventually Susan overpowered him and broke through.

Justin was sitting on a stool at the front of the Great Hall with the Sorting Hat on his head.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" it cried, and the Hall broke out into applause, most of it coming from the Hufflepuff table. Justin felt a rush of pride as he walked to the table and sat next to Susan. There had been a small part of that eleven year old that had thought he would not be Sorted at all, and it was nice to see that he was wrong.

The scene changed and he was in the Hospital Wing near the end of his second year. He was just coming out of being petrified. He was looking up at the ceiling. He didn't remember all that much about what had happened while he was petrified, but he knew that it had been a long time. Dumbledore had been there when it happened, and he told Justin what had happened.

"I am sure that Harry would have wanted to be here himself," the Headmaster said with a friendly smile. "Alas, Madam Pomfrey is strict on such things. I assure you, however, that Harry did not do this to you."

"I feel terrible," Justin said to the headmaster, and Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling.

"I think you will find that Harry is very forgiving," he said kindly. "If you speak to him, I'm sure everything will be fine."

The scene changed once again. This time it was during a meeting of Dumbledore's Army in the Room of Requirement. Harry was assisting Justin with a spell that Justin was having trouble with.

"Here, I'll help," Harry said kindly, and took Justin's wand hand in his own. Justin got nervous as he did so, and almost dropped his wand. Harry laughed and Justin went red. "Keep a hold of that. That's rule number one."

"I'm sorry," Justin said, more timid than he usually was. Harry smiled and his emerald green eyes shone like Dumbledore's had.

"It's alright," Harry said. "I took you by surprise. I do need to use your hand to show you the movement though."

"I'll make sure to hold on this time," Justin said, joking and cursing his face.

The scene changed again and Justin was sitting in the Hufflepuff Common Room with Zach, Susan and Ernie. They were in Sixth Year. Towards the end of that year, as well. It was nothing special, but they were all together. They sat around and joked with each other about what was going on at the school. It was the last time the four of them were together.

Susan stopped the spell. She obviously realised what was so important about the last memory. She looked like she wanted to cry, but didn't. Justin was affected too.

"What happened to Ernie?" Susan asked. It was the first time she had brought up Ernie since finding Justin.

"He was in the Great Hall," Justin said. "Zach told me when he first found me."

"That doesn't surprise me in the slightest," Susan replied. "Ernie was many things, but loyal above all else."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes after that. It hurt for Justin to remember Ernie. He was very close to all of his Hufflepuff classmates, but he had always been closest to Zach, Susan, Hannah and Ernie. Hannah and Ernie were gone, and it hurt to think that he would never see them again.

"You fancied Harry then?" Susan asked finally with a massive smile. Justin laughed.

"Shut up," he said defensively. "I know for a fact that you did at one point. You thought you were being subtle?"

"I did think so, yes," Susan said with a smile as a blush tinged her cheeks. "I was twelve okay?"

"Alright, alright," Justin said. "I won't tease you if you won't tease me."

"I can live with that. I think we should at least try once more this afternoon," Susan said and Justin nodded. "Before I was looking for good memories from your childhood and through Hogwarts. I think I'll look more at recent events because it is easier to protect memories that are closer to where you are in life."

"You may want to broaden your search from good memories, because Zach has been the main source of happiness for me over the last few years. You might come across something you don't want to see," Justin said with a slight smirk. Susan blushed but nodded.

"I might, yes," she admitted. "Treat this as a possibility to try the compartment idea. Try and keep those particular memories somewhere else in your mind, and it might make it harder for me to find them."

"How do I do that?" Justin asked.

"For now, just imagine anything to do with that stuff locked behind a sort of door or maybe even in a chest," Susan explained. "Visualise it if you can."

After a minute, Justin thought he had done the best that he could. Susan nodded at him.

"_Legilimens_," she said quietly.

Justin could feel her in his mind once again, probing away. He concentrated on trying to resist her, and thought that he did it for longer than he had before when she made her way in finally.

Justin was standing outside of his new house as he waved to his parents. He had convinced them that they needed to leave the country for their own safety because Voldemort was more powerful than ever, and they did so reluctantly. They had wanted him to go with them, but he wouldn't.

He felt tears coming to his eyes as they drove away, and then he felt a hand in his.

"It's the right decision," Zach said to him quietly. "They were at risk for over two years. It's safer for them to leave."

The scene changed and Justin was with Zach in the living room.

"I saw Dennis Creevey today," Zach said.

"Really?" Justin asked, surprised. "What happened?"

"It was close," Zach said seriously. "He came up to me when I was with my parents and started talking. I took him aside and warned him about them and told my parents that he had gotten me confused with someone else."

"Do you think we should try to help him?" Justin asked. Zach weighed it in his mind.

"He's lasted this long," he replied finally. "But I might be able to help. In fact, I should have done it for you a long time ago. I'll get the Ministry to think you're both dead. It's all I can do."

The scene attempted to change, but something was stopping it. Justin didn't think that he was doing anything, but he could feel Susan's progress being halted somehow. Suddenly Susan dropped the spell.

"Were you doing that?" she asked.

"No, I don't think so," Justin said. "It seemed like there was something else."

"Are you absolutely sure you weren't stopping me yourself?" Susan asked.

"Well, no," Justin admitted. "But it felt different in my mind. It wasn't like I was exerting as much effort as there would have been."

"Okay," Susan replied, a worried look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Justin asked, his heart starting to beat faster. "Something's wrong, I can tell. What is it?"

"Well, if it wasn't you doing that, there's really only one thing it could be," Susan explained. "It has to be a memory charm."


	14. Christmas at Beauxbatons

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 14**_

_**Christmas at Beauxbatons**_

_"And I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know."  
_\- Mitch Albom ("For One More Day")

_**Fleur Weasley**_

_**25th December, 2003**_

It was Victoire's third Christmas, though it was probably the first one where she actually understood what was happening, which was why Fleur had gone to so much trouble to make it as fantastic as possible for her beautiful daughter. She and Bill had bought her a lot of presents and sat them under the fake Muggle Christmas tree in the corner of the living room of Grimmauld Place. They had decorations up at Shell Cottage, but they were well aware that they would spend the morning at Grimmauld Place, so they left the gifts there.

Victoire was extremely pleased with all of her presents and was playing with a few of her new toys with Charlie and Ginny while Fleur sat talking with Bill, Luna and Hermione.

"When are you going to France?" Luna asked.

"In a few hours," Fleur replied. "We want to have lunch at home with my parents and then I was thinking of visiting Madame Maxime at Beauxbatons."

"Is that a good idea?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"Madame Maxime will be very discreet," Fleur explained. "There is a direct Floo connection between my parents' house and her office. She and I became close during the Triwizard Tournament, so she liked me to keep in touch. Especially after Cedric was killed. I think she was worried about my emotional state after that."

"Don't worry," Bill told Hermione. "We won't let many people see us there. Madame Maxime already knows that we're alive, so that isn't a problem."

"Okay, just be careful," Hermione said. Fleur could see Luna looking off into the distance slightly, but didn't comment on it. Luna often did this, so everyone else had become used to it.

"Just make sure to wish everyone else a happy Christmas for us," Fleur said. "We'll be staying with my parents for the night, so we won't see them at all today."

"When are Malfoy and Astoria getting here anyway?" Hermione asked. Fleur looked at her slightly disapprovingly.

"I know he wasn't good to you in school, but can't you just call him Draco?" Fleur asked. She hadn't meant it to, but it came out rather annoyed. "I think he's earned it."

"When he stops calling me Granger, I'll call him Draco," Hermione said. "Until that time, he will be Malfoy to me." Fleur sighed.

"I guess I can't ask for a lot more than that," she said.

Luna was about to speak, but Fleur heard Louis crying. She sighed and got to her feet.

"I love him, but I will be glad when this crying stuff is over," she said. "I haven't slept well since he was born."

"It doesn't show," Luna said. Fleur smiled at her, knowing that the airy blonde was being completely and utterly sincere.

"That's kind of you to say, but it's only the Veela in me," Fleur said. "I would look absolutely horrendous if I wasn't part Veela."

"No you wouldn't," Bill said, kissing Fleur on the cheek. Louis was fully wailing now and Victoire was calling to Fleur to let her know that he was crying as well. Louis was in one of the downstairs rooms to make it easier to get to him, and Fleur soon made her way into his room.

"Listen to you," she said with a wide grin. It was strange how even the mere presence of one of his parents tended to get Louis to stop crying. "Did you have a good little nap?"

Fleur picked Louis up and hugged him close to her before changing him and carrying him into the lounge room. She sat down on the couch closest to Victoire and started to play with Louis. She liked the look on his face when she made funny faces at him, so she tended to do that a lot. It also served to amuse Victoire as well, which was a helpful side-effect.

After a while, Fleur gave Louis to Charlie, who tried to make Louis play with one of the toys that he had bought him. Louis wasn't very interested, but Charlie tried nonetheless. Fleur walked back into the kitchen intending to get a drink.

"There was another Muggle-born execution yesterday," Bill was saying as she walked in. "The first eleven year old in a month."

"I hate this so much," Hermione said angrily. "I wish we could just do something about it."

"I do too," Bill assured her. "But Draco was right. There's too much risk involved. Perhaps we might get a better chance soon."

"In the meantime more innocent Muggle-born kids will die," Hermione said fervently. "Not to mention their families. If we don't act, they'll all die."

"If we do act, _we_ could die," Bill said. "What use would we be then?"

"He's on the path to wiping out a whole generation of Muggle-borns!" Hermione shouted. "He's killed ten years' worth since he took over, and there are undoubtedly more to come."

"What are you going to do?" Bill asked, anger finally seeping into his voice. "Sneak into the Ministry alone? And what happens if you get killed, Hermione? What then?"

"At least I'll have died knowing I was doing the right thing," Hermione shot back. "That's what Harry would do."

"Yes, he would," Bill said angrily. "And whenever he did things like that, nothing good happened. He wasn't perfect Hermione." Bill took a breath to calm himself as Hermione looked slightly hurt. "If you tried and failed, do you think any of us would be able to live with ourselves? We're closer than family here."

"We love you, Hermione," Fleur put in. Hermione looked at her. "We have lost so many people over the years, what do you think would happen to us if we lost someone else? I know that's a selfish thought when there are innocent people being murdered, but it's the truth."

"If we can come up with a way to get those lists that doesn't put us at risk, we'll do it," Bill said. "We don't want this to keep happening any more than you do. We just have to be realistic about it all." Hermione looked on the verge of tears.

"I know," she said simply. Fleur sat on a chair next to her and hugged her. "I just don't want more people to die meaninglessly."

"We don't either," Fleur said. "But sometimes it happens. May we never be able to cope with it."

Luna, Fleur noticed, was watching on interestedly, though had not said anything. Fleur thought that was odd, even for Luna. Even so, she didn't take it up with her. Luna was not one for confrontation, so Fleur guessed that it must have been for that reason that she didn't speak.

Not long before Fleur and Bill were due to leave for France, Charlie came up to Fleur, Hermione at his side.

"Happy Christmas," he said simply, holding out the box. Even though they were all sharing the same bank account, they had decided to get each other gifts anyway. Charlie was the only person who hadn't given one to Fleur. She opened the box. In it was a rather pretty, yet simple, necklace. "It's charmed so that you can use it to talk to people. For now it's only for use with Bill. I gave him a new earring, and he can use that to talk to you if he needs to."

"This is wonderful!" Fleur exclaimed. She had heard about things like this, but had never really thought about getting one for herself. She put it around her neck and hugged Charlie tightly.

"When you get back, I'll make some additions," Hermione said. "That way we'll all be able to talk to each other when we need to."

"Hermione did all the spell work," Charlie admitted. "It was my idea though. Also, if you're talking to anyone, only you can hear them, though you can hear the people around the other person."

"That was a hard one to do," Hermione said. "I got it done though. The only way anyone could hear it is if they had it themselves. I doubt that will happen, though."

"Thank you both," Fleur said happily.

"I hope this works," she heard Bill say and she grinned.

"How do I start it?" she asked.

"Just touch the necklace once," Charlie explained. "That way the communications channel is open for you to talk. To stop it, touch it again." Fleur nodded and touched the necklace.

"Bill?" she asked with a wide smile. "Are you there?"

"Yeah, I am," he said. "I was beginning to think these wouldn't work."

"Charlie had to tell me how to work it," Fleur said. Bill laughed.

"We're turning into old people," he said. "I had to ask him that as well. And I was a Curse Breaker!"

"It's not so bad to grow old," Fleur said, smiling fondly. "Especially not with you."

Charlie snickered and Hermione hit him lightly on the arm. Fleur laughed.

"Tell my brother to shut it," Bill said, humour in his tone. "I love you."

"I love you too," Fleur said before turning to Charlie. "He says to shut it." Bill laughed again as Charlie looked amused.

"We need to go if we want to make it to Beauxbatons," Bill said. Fleur touched the necklace and went into the neighbouring room. They took the fireplace from Grimmauld Place to Fleur's parents' home and were met by the family there. Fleur was slightly grateful that her family consisted only of her parents and Gabrielle. She enjoyed the more quiet family gatherings when she was in France, though part of her wished she could have the large gatherings that the Weasley family could have had.

"_Papi_!" Victoire squealed happily and Fleur's father picked her up easily as Fleur kissed her mother before having Louis taken from her promptly. Bill had learned French over the last five years, but Victoire was only speaking English, so only some of the discussion was in French, mostly things that might have been sensitive for Victoire to hear.

"It was good of you to come," Fleur's mother said happily as she tickled Louis. Fleur's mother had very little French accent left. It was something that Fleur had recognised whenever she heard her mother speak in English. Her father had more of an accent. "The others could have come as well."

"They had other engagements," Fleur said. She had decided not to tell even her parents about their knowledge that Angelina, Alicia and Katie were alive. It was also somewhat more imperative not to mention Draco or Astoria at all. "They all send their love, though."

"I see Victoire got 'er fair share of the geefts," Fleur's father said jovially looking at the bag that Bill was holding.

"You know how it is Alphonse," he said with a grin. "Little girls will get what they want from their father."

"That ees very true," Fleur's father said, laughing.

"I wanted you to meet my boyfriend," Gabrielle said. "I know 'e can't come, but I wished that 'e could meet you two."

"You have a boyfriend?" Fleur asked, her eyebrows raised. It somehow didn't seem that Gabrielle was even old enough. Fleur still saw her as a child, even though she was seventeen. "I guess congratulations are in order. One day I hope to meet him. How long have you been seeing each other?"

"A few weeks now," Gabrielle said with a widening smile. Fleur spent a great deal of time talking about her sister's budding romance, all the while their father was looking extremely uncomfortable. Fleur suspected that it was something about Gabrielle being his baby, but he also seemed to not be too upset by the relationship. Fleur did wonder if it was something to do with her getting married at such a young age.

"Are you going to see Olympe?" Fleur's mother asked later.

"Yes, we thought she would be pleased to see us," Fleur replied. "We do not see her as much as we probably should."

"She has always been good to you," her mother replied with a nod.

"Can I come?" Gabrielle said suddenly. "I came home for the holiday, but Isaac stayed there. It would be nice to see him. And Madame Maxime, of course."

"I don't see why not," Bill said, responding to Fleur's look. "We can stay and chat to Madame Maxime and you can go and find this Isaac."

"Look 'im over for me if you can," Fleur's father put in, mostly in jest. Fleur shot him a glance and he raised his hands slightly.

"Papa," Gabrielle whined, before looking at Bill.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's nice," Bill said with a smile. "I can't meet him, though. Risks, you understand?"

"Pity," Fleur's father responded, grinning at Gabrielle who was now blushing quite red.

"Will you take the children?" Fleur's mother asked.

"We thought about it, and I don't think we will," Fleur replied. "Louis will be sleeping, and Victoire is already looking tired, so she might want a nap. We'll take them to meet Madame Maxime another time, I think."

"Well, we are more than happy to look after them for you," her mother said with a smile. Fleur felt slightly guilty that she didn't visit her parents a great deal. Being grandparents had to be something they loved, and Fleur deprived them of some of that. She resolved to visit them more often.

A short time before they were due to leave to go to Beauxbatons, Gabrielle pulled Fleur into her room. Gabrielle looked slightly nervous, and Fleur felt worried and decided that perhaps using French was better for this situation.

"What's wrong?" Fleur asked, sitting next to Gabrielle on her bed. Gabrielle's room was much the same as it had been when she was a little girl, but there were more thick books than kids' books and school things scattered around the place. It was still a light shade of pink, and even the sheets on Gabrielle's bed were the same.

"How do you know when you love someone?" Gabrielle blurted out almost so quickly that Fleur missed it.

"I assume you mean Issac?" Fleur asked with a smile. Gabrielle nodded. "Do you think you love him?"

"I don't know," Gabrielle admitted. "I might. You love Bill, right? How did you know that you did?"

"I can't say, really," Fleur replied after a moment. "It wasn't something I just realised. It was just … I suppose it was just there. We connected and everything went from there. But it isn't always like that. Mama and Papa weren't like that. They were friends for a long time before they even noticed."

"But it's different for us because we have Veela blood, right?" Gabrielle asked. Fleur looked at her evenly.

"In a way," she said. "It is not us, though. We are just the same as normal girls with normal emotions. It's the men. It is sometimes difficult to know if they like us, or like the Veela part."

"Like with Roger Davies?" Gabrielle asked. Fleur nodded. During the Triwizard Tournament, Fleur started seeing Roger for a short period of time. She had quite liked Roger as he was handsome and very smart. She had learned the night of the Yule Ball that he was enamoured with her because of the Veela side. She didn't hold it against him because he knew that most were somewhat weakened by that aspect of her, and her own advances had only encouraged that.

"Like with Roger," Fleur confirmed. "He liked me because of the Veela part. It's not his fault, but you know that already. Guys will always look at you because of that. Do you think it's like that with Isaac?"

"I don't know," Gabrielle said.

"I'll ask you a question, then," Fleur said and Gabrielle nodded. "When you're together, can he focus on other things or other people?"

"He does that sometimes," Gabrielle replied. "Not that he's rude, of course. But he doesn't spend all his time looking at me."

"Then that's a good indication that the Veela part isn't much of a problem," Fleur said. "Roger spent too much time watching me to the point that he couldn't even eat properly." Gabrielle giggled.

"Was Bill ever like that?" she asked.

"When we first met, yes," Fleur replied. "But that is to be expected. He got over that very quickly." Gabrielle was silent for a few moments.

"I have to do some thinking," Gabrielle told Fleur after some time.

"If you love him, then you love him," Fleur said simply. "You cannot do anything about that. Bear in mind that Isaac may not be the boy you end up with in the long run. Bill and I got married young, but that doesn't have to be the same for you. But if you're in love, embrace it. It's the best feeling in the world. Just don't tell Papa."

Laughing, Gabrielle hugged Fleur tightly. Fleur hugged her back

"Thank you," Gabrielle said sincerely. "You always know what to say to help me."

"Oh, another thing," Fleur said, only partially joking. "If Isaac hurts you, I hurt him. Got it?"

"Got it," Gabrielle said with a smile. Deep down she knew that Fleur would never hurt Isaac, and it was true. Fleur believed that there were far too many people in the world being hurt, and the thought of being the cause of that for someone else was almost unbearable to her.

"Ready to go?" Fleur asked and Gabrielle nodded. They exited her room and made their way to the fireplace. When Bill looked at them expectantly, Fleur grinned and said, in English, "Girl stuff."

Fleur went first followed by Gabrielle and then by Bill. They exited the fireplace into Madame Maxime's office. The office was as Fleur had remembered it. There were many tall bookcases, not all of which housed only books. Some shelves had pictures of past students, and some personal items that Madame Maxime liked to keep around. The rest of the office seemed like it was designed for comfort. There was a large, comfortable looking chair in front of a desk. Due to Madame Maxime's size, the desk was rather large. Opposite the desk sat a couch that Fleur was used to sitting in whenever she visited. It was immensely comfortable as it was fitted with feathers. It was also charmed so that it would raise high enough to see over the desk depending on who was sitting on it. For everything within, there was no sign of Madame Maxime.

"She's probably in the Dining Hall," Fleur said. The Dining Hall was basically the same as the Hogwarts' Great Hall, but was somewhat grander, with painstaking effort having been put in to make it as easy on the eyes as possible.

"It's a bit early for that," Bill said, glancing at his watch.

"She'll be around somewhere," Gabrielle said quickly. "Can I go find Isaac please?" Fleur laughed.

"Go and look for him," Fleur said. "If you see Madame Maxime, let her know that we're looking for her. But don't mention our names."

"I won't," Gabrielle promised, and swiftly exited through the entrance to the office.

"She must really like this boy," Bill said with a smile. _You don't know the half of it_, Fleur thought. Fleur moved to the window behind Madame Maxime's desk. She looked out of it over the grounds of Beauxbaton's. Fleur always found it calming to look out at the carefully tended gardens, with the hedges trimmed to perfection and the flowers constantly in bloom. The water fountains were always bubbling away, and Fleur always wished that she could somehow spend more time around them.

This time, however, she did not find looking out at the grounds at all calming.

Fleur gasped as she watched students running across the grounds in a great deal of haste. She saw one girl, probably no older than fourteen, get hit with a Killing Curse and fall into one of the bubbling fountains.

"Bill, we need to help," Fleur said, pointing out of the window. When Bill saw what Fleur had seen, he swore. It was a testament to the events that Fleur didn't chide him for it as she normally would. "We need to get Gabrielle right now."

"I'll go look for her," Bill said, moving to leave the office, but Fleur stopped him.

"No," she said firmly, her heart racing. "You don't know the Palace like I do. I'll find Gabrielle. I know where she will go. You go and help get the children out."

"Where do I take them?" Bill asked quickly. Fleur couldn't think.

"There might be some teachers who know what to do, but if there isn't, create a Portkey and send a lot of them to just outside of the Fidelius charm on my parents' house," she said frantically. "We'll decide what to do from there."

"Be careful," Bill said quietly. Fleur kissed him quickly. "I love you."

"I love you too," Fleur replied. "If you need to talk to me, use the earring."

Bill ran out of the room in the direction Fleur had pointed him. Fleur followed after and went in the opposite direction. She assumed that Gabrielle would head to the Dining Hall first, and then seek out the boys' dormitory to try and find Isaac. Beyond that, Fleur also made a mental note to search the library. Gabrielle had mentioned, among a great deal of other things, that Isaac liked to read.

It didn't take long for Fleur to find Gabrielle. She was dodging spells thrown at her from a short man in a silver mask that covered his face. Fleur's heart jumped into her throat as she saw that one of the spells she dodged was a Killing Curse. It was lucky that Gabrielle was very light on her feet. Fleur raised her wand.

"_Stupefy_!" she growled. The Death Eater slumped to the ground, having not even noticed her. She saw another one advancing on her. She used a shield charm to stop a Severing Charm from hitting her just as Gabrielle did the same nearby. Despite her angry vocalisation of the Stunner, Fleur was proficient in wordless magic, while Gabrielle was not.

"_Stupefy_!" Gabrielle shouted. Fleur lowered her shield and silently sent off a second Stunner just after Gabrielle's. The Death Eater blocked the first, but didn't see the second. They fell to the ground. Fleur surveyed the area and saw no other threat.

"Go to Madame Maxime's office," she told Gabrielle. "Take the Floo back home and stay there."

"I have to find Isaac," Gabrielle said firmly.

"You need to go home, now," Fleur insisted. "It isn't safe here."

"No!" Gabrielle shouted. "I'm going to look for Isaac! I need to know 'e's safe."

"Go to Madame Maxime's office and go home!" Fleur shouted back louder. Gabrielle looked shocked. Fleur didn't remember the last time she yelled at her little sister. "I couldn't take it if you died. Just, please. Go home. For me."

"I love him," Gabrielle said quietly in French this time. Fleur nodded.

"I know you do," she replied, using French as well. "I knew you did when you talked to me. But you can't stay here. Bill's helping the students get out. He'll help Isaac. You need to go."

"Okay," Gabrielle said reluctantly. "Please be careful."

"I will," Fleur promised, wiping away the tear on Gabrielle's cheek away. "Now go."

Fleur watched as Gabrielle ran in the direction of Madame Maxime's office. She couldn't be sure that Gabrielle would do what she said she would. Fleur's little sister had always been wilful. She could only hope that Gabrielle would do the smart thing.

Fleur turned to the downed bodies. She walked to the one that had been attacking Gabrielle and stomped on both his hands, feeling the bones crack under her feet. She then picked up his wand and snapped it in two right then and there. She threw them to the ground. She broke the second one's wand as well, though she didn't go so far as to break any bones. That one hadn't tried to hill her sister.

She had found Gabrielle, but Fleur was worried about the remaining students as well as Madame Maxime. She made the decision to at least check the nearby room to see if she could help with anything. If she didn't at least do that, Fleur wasn't sure that she could live with herself.

She ran along the hallway, checking inside every room as she went, finding that they were all empty. When she looked into the library, she found the librarian dead on the floor. She had always liked the old librarian, and found herself getting angry. _She wouldn't have ever hurt anyone_.

Finally she came to the Dining Hall. She hastily pushed open the doors.

Inside, the Hall looked much the same as it had when she hat attended Beauxbatons. The school had never had the House system that Hogwarts had, and focused on a larger amount of seating so that friends could all sit together nicely. The arrangements of the tables and chairs differed from year to year depending on the students themselves. However, at the moment, the tables were all pushed against the walls and some were even in splinters.

Madame Maxime was on her knees in the middle of the Hall. Behind her stood three Death Eaters and in front of her, facing the doorway, was Voldemort.

Fleur had only glimpsed Voldemort once during the Battle of Hogwarts, and that had been enough. But there he was, right in front of her. He was just as legend had said. He had his wand pointed at Madame Maxime, though he didn't appear to be readying any particular spell.

"It seems we have a visitor," Voldemort said slowly as he noticed Fleur in the doorway. The Death Eaters, all wearing their now traditional silver masks, and Madame Maxime all turned around together.

"Fleur Delacour," one of the Death Eaters said silkily. "One of the Triwizard Champions years ago. She did terribly."

"She's insignificant to you, my lord," another said.

"Fleur, run!" Madame Maxime shouted.

"Silence!" Voldemort shouted. Madame Maxime turned around and faced him.

"Silence me then, you ignorant bastard," she growled in a tone that Fleur had never heard her use before. "Flight from death, indeed. Flight _to_ death more like."

Voldemort stepped forward and slapped her hard across the face. Fleur felt herself fill with anger and attempted to quash it down as she had been taught to when she was a child. A Veela's emotions are a dangerous thing and she didn't want to hurt Madame Maxime. Fleur raised her wand as quickly as she could manage.

She silently shot a stunner towards the Death Eater that had not spoken and before the Death Eater that was aimed at could react, she pointed her wand at the one who had spoken first and fired a Reductor Curse, aiming for his head.

Both spells were expertly blocked by the Death Eaters and the second was rebounded in an odd direction, destroying one of the old tables on impact, sending splinters of wood into the air.

"Deal with her," Voldemort said loudly. The three Death Eaters raised their wands, but Fleur moved away from the door and ran down the hall. She looked behind her after a moment and saw them all chasing her. She ducked a Killing Curse and thought she felt her hair blow from the curse.

Fleur quickly turned into a corridor and then turned again. She continued to do so as she knew the ins and outs of Beauxbatons better than most, and she was very quick so she thought she could lose the Death Eaters quite easily. After a moment she came to a dead end that was not illuminated at all. She stopped and tried to control her breathing. She couldn't hear any footsteps.

Fleur took a moment to catch her breath, her mind racing. She couldn't think of anything that might help, and it was frustrating her. Her mind seemed to go over nearly everything she knew to do with magic, but was coming up short. Suddenly it came to her what she could do. She pointed her wand to her throat.

"_Sonorus_," she whispered. She then made sure not to speak as she let the emotions of the ordeal wash over her. She felt Bill kiss her before running off to help the students. She saw Gabrielle narrowly dodge a Killing Curse sent by a masked Death Eater. She saw Madame Maxime on her knees, still taller than most, getting slapped by Voldemort. She felt the anger, worry and frustration wash over her and she began to feel something change within her.

Fleur was only one-quarter Veela, but she possessed some of the traits that Veela are known for. She could not transform into the bird-like creatures like full blooded Veela can, but there was a small change that happened to her that she knew about through pure experience, and she thought she could exploit it for her own benefit. Fleur got to her feet and started running.

Fleur screamed. It wasn't the scream of a woman. It wasn't even the scream of a human. It was the screech of a Veela, and it was painful to hear. For anyone with no Veela ancestry, they would feel immense pain, hearing it, though it would do no permanent damage in the end. And Fleur was amplifying the noise so loudly that she believed that it likely could be heard all throughout the Palace and on the grounds.

Fleur's mouth hung open and her eyes blazed a deep gold as her Veela side took partial control of her. The screech went on for a long time as she ran through the maze of corridors back towards the Dining Hall. Along the way she encountered two of the three Death Eaters who had been chasing her. They didn't even acknowledge her passing as the shrieking was causing them immense pain. They were doubled over and one had even dropped their wand, which Fleur promptly picked up and snapped before running again.

She entered into the Dining Hall to find that her shriek had also had an effect on Voldemort himself, though he was seemingly not as badly affected as the other Death Eaters, as he had manage to stay on his feet. Madame Maxime had her ears covered and looked to be in a lot of pain. Seeing her like that seemed to snap Fleur out of the semi-Veela state as the shriek stopped and her eyes returned to their normal shade of blue.

Immediately Fleur pointed her wand at Voldemort as she advanced on him, anger in her eyes. Before he could recover, Fleur silently cast three spells in quick succession, two towards Voldemort and one other spell directed towards Madame Maxime. The first towards Voldemort was the Severing Charm and second the Fire-Making Spell. The third was a spell that allowed Fleur to move Madame Maxime from the middle of the Hall towards the back, behind where Voldemort stood.

Voldemort reacted too quickly and dodged, but not quite as quickly as he might have. Fleur watched as the Severing Charm impacted with his right ear, with the Fire-Making Spell following soon after, only seeming to brush the side of his face. It was enough as the spot where his ear had once been seemed to catch fire. For a few seconds she saw the fire on the side of Voldemort's face, but then it was extinguished by the remaining Death Eater who had been standing at the door when Fleur entered. She had not seen him. Fleur cursed herself for not having hit Voldemort with a Stunner when she could have.

Fleur whirled around and silently casted another Severing Charm. The Death Eater didn't shield himself quick enough, but tried to block it with his hand as he ducked. Fleur saw the charm cut through the fingers of his right hand. He screamed.

Fleur turned back to Voldemort with a determined and angry look on her face, which immediately fell when she saw what was on the stone floor in front of her.

"No," Fleur exclaimed as she looked on in horror. "Please, no. Not them."

Fleur fell to her knees and cried out in pain. Not a Veela screech. Human pain.

Bill was lying dead on the floor in front of her, half of his face missing and his hair singed so that he was nearly bald. Next to him lay the still form of Victoire, blood crusting on her clothes. Her good dress. Close to her was her baby, Louis, who was not breathing and had turned a blue-ish colour.

_No, no, no, no, no, no_, Fleur thought. It was all she could think as the tears started to fall down her face. She could hear a high-pitched laugh, but it was as if it were a mile away. She opened her eyes again, hoping beyond hope that she hadn't seen what she thought she had. When she saw the three bodies again, she let out another scream and started to weep.

It wasn't enough to be on her knees. She fell face first to the stone floor, her forehead feeling the coolness of the stone. It felt as though hours passed as she wept, her head pressed to the floor.

_My babies_, Fleur thought between sobs. _My Bill_.

"Get her up," a voice demanded. Fleur was beyond remembering who it was.

"My lord," a second, pained voice said. "I can't."

"Use your other hand, Lucius, you fool," the first voice spat. Fleur continued to sob. She felt someone grab her roughly and pull her up. She couldn't stand and she fell back to the ground again and howled in pain once again. "You _will_ stand. _Crucio_!"

Fleur felt an immense pain run through her entire body, as if every cell she had was calling for death. Even in as much pain as she was, Fleur sobbed as she tried to get rid of the image of Bill, Victoire and Louis dead on the floor in her mind. Physical and emotional pain mingled inside Fleur's mind, seeming to be trying to one-up each other in a battle to see what would claim dominance in the woman's mind. In the end, the physical pain ended and Fleur was left imagining how the people she loved had perished in excruciating detail.

"Now, stand!" the voice commanded as the torture subsided. Fleur felt herself be pulled up once again, though this time she managed to keep her balance, albeit on shaky legs. She opened her eyes. Voldemort was in front of her, part of his head seemingly burned as it was blackened. Behind him, three bodies lay on the unforgiving stone floor.

"Fleur?" came the disembodied voice of Bill. Fleur looked at the body of her husband and let out a sob.

"No," she muttered in French. "No. Don't haunt me please. Please. I couldn't help you. Please."

"What's going on?" the disembodied voice of Bill asked and Fleur sobbed again.

"It seems your prized student has lost it, Maxime," Voldemort said, looking over his shoulder. Fleur thought she could hear someone calling to her, but she was too lost to care. "They always do in the end. Perhaps this will teach you. Lucius, get her on her knees."

Fleur was pushed roughly to the floor, and her knees hit stone. She barely registered the pain. She felt someone pull her hair roughly so she was looking up. She opened her eyes and looked at Voldemort.

_Not my hair_, Fleur thought to herself as the demon in front of her raised its wand. _Bill loves my hair_.

"Fleur?" Bill asked once more, incredibly worried. Fleur sobbed, thinking of Bill lying on the couch at Shell Cottage, asleep with Louis on his chest and Victoire cuddled to his side.

"_Avada Kedavra_!"


	15. Escalating Danger

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 15**_

_**Escalating Danger**_

_"The difference between what we do, and what we are capable of doing, would solve most of the world's problems."_  
\- Mahatma Gandhi

_**Draco Malfoy**_

_**25th December, 2003**_

"Do we really have to go there?" Draco asked Astoria as he lay on their bed, her arms wrapped around him. Her skin was warm against his. "Today?"

"I think we do," Astoria replied with a cute smile. "They've been alone for so long. It will be nice for them to have an enjoyable Christmas with new people."

"It won't be enjoyable for them if I'm there," Draco muttered.

"You underestimate them and yourself," Astoria chided him. "Yes, I know. You were terrible to them and their friends and family. I know that."

"Well I was," Draco insisted as he had done several times over the past weeks.

"And are you like it now?" Astoria asked seriously.

"Well, I don't hate them," Draco replied. Astoria scoffed.

"That's putting it lightly, don't you think?" she asked. "Compared to everyone else you know, you positively love them and you know it."

"I wouldn't go that far," Draco said quietly. He had thought on this for quite some time ever since they had discovered the occupants of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, and there was something in Draco that couldn't let him see them as anyone other than the people that he hated at Hogwarts. He had said and done terrible things to Granger, and while he had not done much to the others, there was a certain two-way hatred involved. He felt willing to somehow make amends, but he couldn't see how it could happen. He felt lucky that at least Bill, Fleur and Luna trusted him enough. "You know I want to like them. I just don't know if they want to like me." Astoria swatted him on the side of the head.

"Of course they do you dolt," she said, amused. "Whether you believe this or not, you and I are the only people that they know that can help them in any real way. They know that you're working to bring the Dark Lord down, and they are obviously willing to accept you if that's your goal as well, which we both know it is."

"Maybe some of them," Draco said. "Granger won't. She might pretend to for the sake of the others, but she doesn't trust me at all, especially not with the lives of those she loves. Frankly, I'm not sure I would trust her with your life either."

"My life?" Astoria asked, surprised.

"Yes, your life," Draco replied fervently. "Your life is more important to me than my own is."

"That may just be the most romantic thing you've ever said to me," Astoria said, kissing Draco. "It makes me wonder what you would have said if you had proposed to me."

"Unfortunately that isn't how marriage contracts work," Draco replied sadly. "I might do it one day. Anyway, I don't know how I could trust Granger. After everything I've done, she can't possibly trust me. And if she can't trust me, I can't trust her."

"Part of the reason might be that you call her 'Granger' all the time," Astoria pointed out. "Try using her first name from time to time. You might find that she warms to you a bit more."

"'Hermione' is a stupid name," Draco muttered, making Astoria laugh. "What?"

"Your name is Draco," she said. "Mine is Astoria. Your father's is Lucius. My father's is Ventrus. Your mother's is Narcissa. Luckily my mother is simply Joan. I don't think we get to say what names are stupid and what ones aren't." Draco chuckled.

"I suppose you're right," he said finally. "I can't promise anything except that I'll try. I want to be able to trust them."

"Good," Astoria said, kissing Draco on the cheek and then pulling away from him. "As much as I would love to stay here in your arms all Christmas, we need to get going. We have three homes to visit."

"We could see if Mother wants to come with us to your parents'," Draco suggested and Astoria immediately scrunched her nose. "Father is doing something for the Dark Lord, so she's on her own."

"I know, but your mother doesn't like my family," Astoria said.

"I'm sure she can deal with it for one day," Draco replied, sitting up. "She can be civil."

"I know she can," Astoria said. "Oh, we'll give it a go. She may not even want to go with us at all."

"Who else will be there?" Draco asked.

"Only my parents, Daphne and Blaise," Astoria assured him.

"Well that's a positive at least," Draco said wryly. "Mother likes Blaise. Sometimes I think she'd have been happier if I ended up with him."

"Well, she can keep dreaming," Astoria said, laughing.

"Have you told Daphne anything more?" Draco asked seriously. After Draco and Astoria went to Hogwarts the first time, Astoria had insisted that she tell Daphne what their plans were. She was sure that her sister felt the same way about the Dark Lord, so Draco agreed that it was safe enough to tell Daphne at least. What Draco couldn't understand was how Daphne would be able to actively fight against the Dark Lord while still being married to Blaise. He vaguely wondered if she was able to make Blaise see the truth like Astoria had done with him. He knew that he couldn't ask Blaise outright, because he knew that Blaise would never say something like that out loud, especially to a Malfoy. Malfoy outranks Zabini in the mind of the Dark Lord, so Blaise was overly cautious when even just speaking to Draco, let alone speaking against the Ministry. Draco knew that there was a possibility that Blaise knew what Daphne knew, though he wasn't entirely sure. Draco and Astoria had decided early on not to mention anything about Grimmauld Place or the inhabitants to anyone, even Daphne.

"No, she only knows what we've done at Hogwarts," Astoria replied. This included, Draco knew, the Prophecy that they had been given. "Other than that, she doesn't know about anything else."

Soon, Draco and Astoria were at Malfoy Manor, where they found Draco's mother alone in the sitting room reading a book.

"Do you want to come with us to the Greengrass home for lunch?" Draco asked his mother after the exchange of pleasantries.

"Not particularly," she replied curtly. "You only ask me this because your father is away."

"What is he doing anyway?" Draco asked curiously. Ever since the Dark Lord's victory, Draco found that the Dark Lord had less use for younger Death Eaters like himself. Especially after his marriage to Astoria. Draco assumed that the Dark Lord believed that Draco's job was to have children and nothing more. He was rarely even summoned any more, not that he found this to be an annoyance.

"The Dark Lord forbade him to discuss it with anyone," his mother replied. "As you well know. All I know is that he may not be back for a few days."

"Which is why you should come with us," Draco insisted. "You shouldn't spend Christmas alone." His mother scoffed.

"Christmas," she said derisively. "Ridiculous holiday. Some pagan festival passed down from long ago, forced upon us by religion. A religion, I might point out, that only Mudbloods practice in our society. We do know better."

Draco was well aware of his mother's beliefs on the subject. As a child he had always been upset at the way his mother had treated the holiday, especially when what few friends he had were having such a good time. While it is true that most wizards and witches don't follow a specific religion, which Draco assumed was because of the massive Muggle followings surrounding them, there was a belief about the afterlife among most people in the magical community. Most cited ghosts for that belief. Draco, personally, had never been sure.

"That may be so," Astoria put in sweetly, "but you are still alone when you could be surrounded by others. You do not dislike my family all that much, do you?" There was a silence.

"Fine," Narcissa said, snapping only slightly. "I'll go to your lunch."

"And be civil?" Draco asked. His mother shot him a look.

"Of course," she said simply.

The three of them arrived at the Greengrass home and were greeted by Ventrus and Joan Greengrass who were pleased to see them arrive, though raised their eyebrows slightly at the sight of Narcissa Malfoy in their home. Draco kissed his mother-in-law on the cheek and shook hands with Ventrus, who seemed to be trying to break some bones.

Ventrus Greengrass was a thick-set man with a close-cropped grey beard flecked with brown. He always seemed to be in a good mood, and tried his best to pass this on to everyone around him. Joan was shorter than he was and had black hair that fell to her waist. She had an almost stern face, which still managed to look somewhat happy. It was clear that Astoria and Daphne had gotten their looks mainly from their mother.

Blaise and Daphne, who had been seated on a couch when Draco arrived were now standing. Draco shook Blaise's hand.

"It's been too long," Blaise said quietly. Blaise had never been one for speaking, and that had apparently not been changed too much.

"Not all that long," Draco reminded him. "We were at Pansy's wedding together, though I admit that we didn't talk very much."

A flicker of annoyance crossed Blaise's face, but was gone quickly.

"I had forgotten," Blaise replied, smiling lightly.

"My husband's memory can be lacking sometimes," Daphne said with a smile. She reached out her arms and Draco hugged her quickly.

"I seem to remember that from Hogwarts," Draco said grinning towards Blaise. "McGonagall and Flitwick were always on your back about that." Draco saw his mother's expression change, but Draco pretended not to notice.

"Absolutely," Blaise admitted. "Though I'm glad for that Slytherin bias Snape had. He might have eaten me alive."

During lunch Draco and Astoria were seated together with Draco's mother on his right. Ventrus sat at the head of the table near Astoria and Joan was on his left with Daphne next to her and Blaise next to Daphne.

"What have you been doing recently Mrs Malfoy?" Blaise asked.

"Call me Narcissa," Narcissa replied. "But to answer your question, not a great deal honestly. I've been considering actually getting a job so that I have something to do. Things have gotten a great deal more boring since the Dark Lord's conquest."

Draco's mother had been considering getting a job, Draco knew for certain. He also knew that it would go no further than that. She had never worked a day in her life, coming from the very wealthy Black family and then almost immediately marrying into the only slightly less wealthy Malfoy family. Money had never been an issue, and Draco knew that she would just get frustrated with actual work. That said, he knew that he had never had a job either. He had considered it, but his father had shot it down. "A Malfoy does not work. People work so that we don't have to. That's the way it is," he had said.

"You should get a job, mother," Astoria said. Draco saw Joan's smile falter, but it didn't disappear. "It is so fulfilling. I've been trying to convince Draco to do the same, but he's so stubborn." Astoria grasped his hand on top of the table.

"Yes, that has always been a trait of his," Narcissa said flatly. "A trait that a Malfoy _should_ possess."

"I agree with Astoria," Blaise said. "You could do spectacularly somewhere in the Ministry. I have no doubt that every Department would be clamouring for someone of your stature."

"You're very kind," Narcissa said with a broad smile that Draco rarely saw. "Perhaps you are right, but I do not believe that Lucius would allow me to take a job. It would be such a blow to his ego."

"Narcissa, you should do what you like," Joan put in. "Life is too short to do anything but that, don't you think?"

"I think," Narcissa said, a hint of venom in her voice that everyone at the table could clearly hear, "that there are some things more important than individual happiness. Doing what is required of you should take precedence over anything else, even if it hurts you. You simply do it."

"Well, it's ultimately your decision," Joan said with an equal amount of venom. "I just don't think that a life is important if it is spent filled with bitterness and regret."

"Just what are you implying?" Narcissa snapped.

"Nothing," Joan said calmly. "It is a statement of what I believe to be fact. However, if you choose to take offence, that would be your prerogative."

"What makes you think you know what's best for everyone?" Narcissa asked. Draco saw that everyone else were looking quite unsettled.

"I only know what has been best for me," Joan replied. "I am aware that some may not see the world as I do, but I try my best to help those around me."

Ventrus clicked his fingers and three house-elves appeared and quickly filled the table with food. There were three plates of meat as well as a full turkey as well as some salads, several baked vegetables and a strange looking pasta that Draco loved around this time of year. Ventrus had done the only thing he could have done in the situation and Draco was thankful.

Draco talked with Blaise and Daphne while everyone ate, occasionally being fed something by Astoria or feeding her something. Her parents looked on with pleased looks, but Draco could tell that his mother didn't feel the same way. While Draco and Astoria were doing all of this, he noticed that the same was not happening for Blaise and Daphne. He knew that they had been married longer, and he wondered whether he and Astoria would get to be like them.

Draco's parents had never been overly demonstrative of their relationship, Draco knew. He knew that they loved each other, but it was very hard to tell at times. It was different for him and Astoria, and it worried him that they might get to a point where they weren't the way they were. Then he thought about Ventrus and Joan who were much more open with their relationship, and it did give him some hope. If he and Astoria could reach their age and be like them, he would be happy.

His mother barely spoke again, and when she did it was only to Draco, Blaise or, occasionally, Daphne. Draco realised that he was finding it difficult to converse with anyone. Most of the things that he thought of to talk about he knew that he couldn't, so there was little to talk about. At least with Blaise and Daphne there was their years at Hogwarts, but he felt an odd tension around the table when this was brought up, at least among the older members of the group.

"Thank you for lunch," Draco told Ventrus as Astoria was saying goodbye to her mother and Daphne.

"Any time," Ventrus said, clapping Draco on the shoulder. "You should come here more. We would be very pleased to see you and our little girl. But we know how it is to be newlyweds. I don't hold it against you."

"That's good to hear," Draco said, smiling. "We will try to make it more often." Ventrus then pulled Draco in for a hug, something that he had done before.

"We know about what you're doing, and we support it," Ventrus whispered quickly and pulled away. Draco was shocked, but made sure to not show anything on his face. "That's good for a father to hear. I miss my daughters so very much. You'll find out when you have a child of your own."

"Giving me ideas are you?" Draco joked. Ventrus laughed.

"In your own time," he said with a smile. "Children are such a big step. Sometimes you need to make sure that their surroundings are right before you bring them into the world." Draco understood what he meant.

"Goodbye Draco," he heard Daphne say from behind him. He turned and she hugged him. He felt her hand go into the pocket of his robes and leave very quickly. She kissed him on the cheek. "We must catch up more often. We are brother and sister now."

"To be honest, I never thought of it that way," Draco admitted. "But yes, you're right." Draco shook Blaise's hand and then kissed Joan on the cheek. His mother left to Malfoy Manor and Draco and Astoria used the Floo to go to Spinner's End.

"Well, we ought to get to Grimmauld Place," Astoria said as soon as they got home.

"Wait," Draco said, reaching into his pocket. "Daphne slipped this into my pocket when she hugged me." Draco read the front of the envelope.

_Do NOT open this unless something drastic happens to me._

Draco handed the envelope over to Astoria. She looked slightly surprised.

"Why did she give it to me and not you?" Draco asked.

"My pockets are full," Astoria said.

"Well, what is it?" Draco asked, looking at the letter again. He turned it over and saw that it was sealed with plain black wax.

"I don't know," Astoria admitted. "It has to be important. Daph wouldn't do this unless it was. You don't think she's doing something dangerous, do you?" Draco could see that Astoria was worried so he pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sure that whatever it is is important," Draco said. "She'll be fine. The question is, should we leave it until something happens to her or do we open it now?"

"If it was something she wanted us to know, she wouldn't have given it to us like that," Astoria pointed out. "There are reasons why she wouldn't want us to open it until the last moment."

"Memories, I suppose," Draco realised. "So she must be doing something that she doesn't want to implicate us in."

"It must be dangerous," Astoria said, thinking. "No, we don't open it. If us knowing what's in that letter is dangerous to Daph, then we shouldn't read it."

"I agree," Draco said, walking to the bookshelf. He pointed his wand at a book and the shelf moved aside to reveal a wall safe. Draco put his wand to it. It was keyed into his and Astoria's magical signatures, so it opened. There was nothing inside. Draco sat the letter in there, closed the safe and pointed his wand at the book again, making the shelf move back into position. "It will be safe there until we need it."

When that was done, Draco and Astoria changed into some Muggle clothes that they had pieced together with the help of the group at Grimmauld Place. It was easier than wearing their robes. They used the Floo to get to Grimmauld Place. When they got there, Angelina, Katie and Alicia were already there, but Draco noticed that Bill, Fleur and their kids weren't there.

_Great_, Draco thought looking around the room. _Luna's the only one here who actually trusts me._

"Sorry we're late," Astoria said pleasantly. "We spent more time than we would have liked to at my parents' home."

Draco sat down next to Astoria on one of the couches.

"We were just reminiscing," Ginny said. "Mostly about Hogwarts."

"Oh?" Astoria asked. "We're sorry to interrupt. Continue talking." Draco saw Granger looking at him oddly.

"We were just talking about the Yule Ball," Angelina said. "Were you there then?"

"I was in First Year," Astoria said. "I really wish I could have gone. Was it beautiful?"

"Well, Hogwarts never did anything by half," Angelina said, laughing. "It was gorgeous. I stayed in there almost all night with Fred. Though I did have to contend with George for some of it."

Everyone laughed, and even Draco smiled. He had not been fond of the Weasley family but even he had to admit that the twins could be amusing at times.

"I think I remember seeing them dancing together at one point," Granger said with a smile.

"Oh, like you were paying attention," Ginny chided humourously. "You were there with Viktor Krum."

"I can focus on more than one thing at once," Granger said. "But I admit that it was particularly difficult. You went with Neville, right?"

"Yeah," Ginny replied. "You wouldn't think it, but Neville was actually a great dancer. I never told anyone this, but I almost fell for him that night. It would have happened except he never showed any interest after it. Or at least, he never tried anything else."

"Who did you go with Draco?" Luna asked so suddenly that Draco almost jumped.

"Uh, Pansy Parkinson," Draco replied quickly. "Not the greatest of nights. I spent a lot of it feeling oddly jealous."

"Of Harry?" Granger asked emotionlessly.

"For one," Draco admitted. "And of Roger Davies, though I think almost every guy there was jealous of him. And Krum a bit as well." Hermione flushed but said nothing.

"Knowing Parkinson that couldn't have been too bad a night," Ginny said. Draco shook his head.

"I really wasn't a good date for her," Draco admitted. "She didn't talk to me for a week."

"Did you go, Luna?" Astoria asked. Draco wondered if she was deliberately trying to change the topic.

"Oh no," Luna replied serenely. "I wasn't very well-liked, so no boy asked me. I don't think I would have liked it anyway. I've never been one for traditional dancing." A few of the others laughed, but Draco didn't understand why.

Later, Draco and Astoria were left with Luna, Angelina, Alicia and Katie as the other had moved to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Even though they had had a large lunch, Draco was looking forward to dinner anyway. The tension in the air was thick, and Draco couldn't help but want it to go away.

"I know I wasn't your favourite person," Draco told the three former Gryffindor chasers. "Far from it I would guess."

"You put Katie in St. Mungo's," Alicia said angrily. "You could have killed her."

"I know, and I apologise for that," Draco said. He wasn't used to apologising, and he wasn't sure if he was doing it correctly. In fact, it was not one of the things that his father had taught him over the years. The Malfoy name was apology enough, Draco assumed. "I know it doesn't exonerate me, but you have to understand my position."

"Go ahead and explain it then," Alicia said hotly. Angelina nodded. Katie looked to be slightly embarrassed.

"The Dark Lord tasked me to kill Dumbledore," Draco said plainly as Astoria squeezed his hand. "If the year had gone by without Dumbledore dying, he would have killed me. Or worse, he'd have tortured me for so long that I would want to die."

"What does that have to do with Katie?" Angelina asked.

"I didn't target Katie specifically," Draco said. "Any girl would have worked. It just so happened that Katie was the one there. That attempt was a poor one, but I was young and I was scared for my life. It was the best I could think of at the time. I'm sorry that you got caught in that. But I don't regret doing it."

"I forgive you," Katie said quietly.

"Katie," Alicia said quietly.

"No," Katie said firmly. "You heard his explanation and I think it makes sense. I don't know what I would do if it had happened to me. I might have done the same thing."

"Why didn't you go to Dumbledore about it?" Angelina asked. "He would have helped you, surely."

Draco pulled up the left arm of the sweater he was wearing to reveal the Dark Mark on his forearm. It was dark as ever, but now it sickened him. It sickened him when he got it as well, but in a different way. The way the Dark Lord applied the Dark Mark was painful to the point that Draco had almost thrown up several times and would have passed out had the spell not prevented just that from happening. It was horrifying and Draco still occasionally had nightmares about it.

"I already had this," Draco said. "And my father has it as well. There was no going back in my mind. It was kill Dumbledore or die."

Angelina reached out and pulled his arm closer. Draco attempted to flinch away, but Astoria squeezed his other hand, so he let her look.

"I'm not proud of it," Draco said quietly.

"I've never seen it before," Angelina muttered. "Not on the arm anyway." Draco pulled his arm back when she was finished examining it and pulled down his sleeve.

"I know it will be hard," Astoria put in, "but Draco really isn't the same boy from Hogwarts. He regrets it. I know he does."

"I trust him," Luna said, speaking for the first time in a while. "I think you should too."

"We can try," Katie said before Angelina or Alicia could speak.

Not long after this, they were in the dining room eating dinner. To Draco's surprise, a House Elf, Kreacher, was seated at the table with them. He found this odd, but didn't mention it at all. He just simply went along with it, knowing that these people did things differently to anything he had ever known. Granger handed Draco a bowl.

"Thank you, Hermione," Draco said, struggling. The room went silent, but Granger was seemingly unperturbed.

"It's just a bowl, Draco," she said smoothly, sitting back down. The room was quiet. Draco smiled.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said just as they heard the fireplace flare up in the sitting room.

"Bill and Fleur aren't due back yet," Ginny commented. Draco saw her, Charlie and Hermione draw their wands. He looked at Luna who looked worried. As Charlie moved to the sitting room they heard a voice. A male voice with a French accent.

"Emergency!" he yelled. Everyone stood from their seats and hurried into the sitting room, Draco, Astoria and Luna in the back. A short plump man stood with Bill's arm around his shoulders. Bill's head was limp.

"What happened?" Ginny demanded as Charlie helped the man set Bill on the couch. Draco could tell that Bill had been stunned. "Alphonse?"

"Beauxbatonz waz attacked by Death Eaters," the man said, tears forming in his eyes.

"Where's Fleur?" Hermione asked. Alphonse started to weep.

"She waz killed!" he cried, anguish in his voice. The room collectively drew in a breath before Ginny broke down. Hermione, too, looked on the verge of a break down.

"Where are the kids?" Charlie demanded. "Are they safe?"

"Apolline 'az them," Alphonse replied. "I will bring them now."

"I'll help," Charlie said firmly and within a few moments he and Alphonse were gone. Soon they returned, Charlie with Louis and Alphonse with Victoire.

"I stunned 'im," Alphonse explained. "'e was too far gone. 'e should be out for at least twenty more minutes."

It only now occurred to Draco what his father was doing that would take so long. He couldn't help but feel slightly guilty about what happened and wondered if they would have gone to Beauxbatons had he told them that the Dark Lord was doing something that involved someone as prominent as Lucius Malfoy. It didn't help that he didn't feel as sad as everyone else seemingly did. By the time that Alphonse left the house, Ginny and Hermione were crying in earnest while Luna looked off into space. The Gryffindor Chasers looked upset, and he could tell that Astoria was affected as well. Charlie was the only one who didn't show it. He took both of the kids upstairs and put them to bed.

Draco was upset that Fleur was dead. He had liked her for years, and she was one of the first people out of the group to trust him, which had made him like her even more. There was a small part of him that wanted to be more upset, but his conditioning by his father didn't let him. He was too well trained to have a large emotional reaction. When Charlie came downstairs again, he looked at Draco.

"Did you know?" he asked simply.

"I knew they were doing something, but I didn't know it would be taking France," Draco said, not even deciding to tell the truth. "Even if I did, I didn't know that Bill and Fleur were going to Beauxbatons, so I couldn't have warned them about it."

Charlie looked him over for a few moments, but said nothing. Draco made a decision.

"Look, Charlie," he said quiet enough that he wouldn't be overheard. "I'm going to set some things in motion now. Before now the Dark Lord wasn't moving enough to warrant such dangerous choices. But if he has tried for France, that means things are more dangerous now. Things need to be put into motion."

"Why are you telling me this?" Charlie asked.

"Mostly because I need to be sure of it myself," Draco replied truthfully. "Partly because I want you to know that I don't take this lightly."

"You might want to leave before Bill wakes up," Charlie warned. Draco nodded.

"Former Death Eater," Draco said with a nod. "Makes sense. I'll be in contact in a few days to tell you what I've organised." Charlie nodded and walked over to Hermione who threw herself into his muscled arms. Only then did Draco notice that Charlie began to cry.

"We're going then?" Astoria asked, a tear rolling down her face. Draco kissed her.

"I think it's for the best," Draco replied. "It might not be good for Bill to see me when he wakes." Astoria nodded and without another word the two of them took the Floo to Spinner's End. When they got there Astoria broke down and Draco consoled her. She fell asleep in his arms and he fell asleep not long afterwards, wondering what his father would deign to tell him when he saw him next.

"Who are you going to contact?" Astoria asked the next day during breakfast.

"Brantell is still the best idea," Draco replied, sipping some coffee.

Draco and Astoria had compiled a list of people that they thought might be potential allies in their fight against the Dark Lord not long after discovering Grimmauld Place. They had ranked people as most important based on what they could do to help the cause. For the most part the list contained mainly of people that Draco knew from his parents had, at least at one time, been against the Dark Lord.

Top of their list was Hugo Brantell, a journalist for the _Daily Prophet_ who, prior to the Dark Lord's victory, was freelance and mostly writing against the Dark Lord. Draco knew that if the Dark Lord had known what Brantell had written about him previously, the man would not be alive. Thankfully the Dark Lord was not aware of many journalists, and did not take the time to read every article about himself. As a result, Brantell survived and took a job from Rita Skeeter who, as the Editor for the _Daily Prophet_ found herself at a disadvantage as many journalists had been killed due to their loyalty, or lack thereof. Other than Skeeter herself, Brantell was the main writer for the Daily Prophet.

Most importantly to Draco and Astoria was his ability as an empath. Empaths in magical society were among the rarest things that could be found, rarer even than Metamorphmagi, and Brantell was, to Draco's knowledge, the only surviving Empath in Britain. This was important as Draco knew that the ability could come in handy in order to find others who would be willing to join the fight. As Brantell was not on the Dark Lord's radar, there was little chance of him being discovered. As a result, he was the perfect first choice in Draco's mind.

"You realise that this is the first time that we're really placing ourselves into danger," Astoria said with only the slightest hint of fear in her voice. Draco nodded.

"It was always going to happen eventually," Draco said softly. "Besides, I'm going to take at least some precautions. If it turns out that he won't help us, I'll do a memory charm."

"Memory charms can be broken," Astoria pointed out.

"Yes, but you have to find it first," Draco said. "Who would be looking for one in Brantell's head?"

"Okay, fine," Astoria replied. "When are we going?"

"I think it's best if I go on my own," Draco said. "If anything does happen, we shouldn't try to implicate you too much."

"Alright," Astoria agreed reluctantly. "When?"

"Well, he probably worked the last two days since the _Prophet_ came out both days," Draco said. "And since the Dark Lord invaded France, there was likely a lot to be done. I'll go around seven o'clock."

At seven o'clock Draco was standing outside a small home in a Muggle neighbourhood. That was how he had found Brantell's home. As many wizarding families live close to, or even around, Muggles, there is a specific book given to each family detailing where people live and whether or not there are Muggles nearby. Brantell, Draco knew, was living on his own and had been for years. Empaths were widely known to not have particularly good luck in any kind of relationships. Draco walked up to the door and knocked.

Hugo Brantell soon answered the door. He was a tall man and was dressed in something akin to a Muggle suit, but without the tie. He had no robe on, which Draco knew was normal when people live in a Muggle neighbourhood such as this. His brown hair was short, but messy. He had bags under his eyes.

"Draco Malfoy," he said suddenly.

"Hugo Brantell," Draco replied.

"Normally I would hesitate to allow you in my home, but I sense that you are not here to harm me," Brantell said and moved out of the doorway. "I assume you know about my ability?"

"Of course," Draco replied, entering into the home. It was not extremely furnished, and it was clear that the man who lived here had no true connections in the world.

"Then you know I can't turn it off," he said smiling. "A daily struggle I'm afraid."

"So I've heard," Draco said. Brantell led Draco to the sitting room where he and Draco sat in matching armchairs. "How much can your abilities do? Can you tell why I'm here?"

"To a degree," Brantell replied. "You're not hostile, which tells me that I've not done anything wrong. There is some indignation at the idea that I would think that you would be hostile which tells me that you're likely dealing with some kind of shift in beliefs about yourself. You're slightly nervous, likely because you're here under odd circumstances, which I can sense have something to do with a feeling I know all too well."

"Impressive," Draco said. "I'm going to try and bring down the Dark Lord."

"I thought that might be the case," Brantell replied. "And I can tell that you're not lying, which is somewhat shocking given who you are."

"I can see why you would say that," Draco muttered. "Do you share my misgivings about the current regime?"

"Oh, trust me, I do," Brantell replied seriously. "I've been to enough of the executions and felt the feelings involved to understand that what is happening is wrong. Not that I didn't know before, of course, but there is something about knowing that the executioners actually enjoy what they do, and feeling the fear and shock of the people being executed that makes it so much worse."

"Will you help me, then?" Draco asked.

"If I can, yes," Brantell said fervently. "I've been wanting to do something for years. What would you have me do?"

"I need to get a group together," Draco replied, sitting forward in the armchair. "A resistance against the Dark Lord. I want you to get me a list of people who might be sympathetic to the cause using your abilities."

"I'll be honest," Brantell said. "I've not used my abilities like this before. In most other cases I would be hesitant to. Fortunately, this is important. And luckily for you, there is going to be a big press conference from the Dark Lord himself tomorrow. I imagine a lot of the more important people will be there. I'll look over the crowd and get you some names. After that it might be difficult, at least until the next execution. That's when some of the smaller people will be out."

"That's perfect," Draco said.

"May I ask," Brantell put in, "what, exactly, made you change your mind? I can sense that you have and that it's a strong feeling, but it seems odd that the son of Lucius Malfoy would turn against the Dark Lord. It must have been important."

"I don't have your abilities," Draco said simply. "And yet I eventually came to see the same things that you have. It took me longer than it should have because of my father. It was my wife who pointed it all out to me and eventually got me to realise that what has happened was wrong all along."

"There's more you aren't telling me," Brantell said. "I sense loss. Recent loss."

"There are some things that are best left unsaid," Draco said coldly. "We have a deal then?"

"Yes," Brantell replied, reaching out his hand. Draco shook it.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I think it's important to point out that the character of Hugo Brantell is not my own creation. Hugo is the creation of fanfiction author, _Semprini_ who uses Hugo in his trilogy beginning with "Harry Potter and the Veil of Mystery" which I heartily recommend to any and all fanfiction fans. Hugo is a great character who I think will work well in my story, so I felt it right to use him, especially in this role.

I'll see you guys in the next chapter.

_**~Colin, The Master of Whisperers**_


	16. Uncomfortable Truths

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 16**_

_**Uncomfortable Truths**_

"_The hardest choices in life aren't between what's right and what's wrong but between what's right and what's best."  
_\- Jamie Ford ("Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet")

_**Dennis Creevey**_

_**27th December, 2003**_

"No, I'm going to stay at my parents' again tonight," Dennis told Sam, holding his mobile phone to his ear. He smiled as she groaned exaggeratedly.

"I don't think you realise how annoying it is staying here with just Patrick," she complained.

"I've done it heaps," Dennis protested with a laugh. "Whenever you have a new love of your life, it gets back down to me and Patrick alone again, remember?"

"Yeah, but you're both guys," Sam replied. "Doing guy things." Dennis laughed.

"I've never heard you complain about being alone with _me_ before," he said with a sly smile she couldn't see. "What are you trying to say here Sam?"

"You're different," she said quickly. So quickly in fact that Dennis was almost offended. "Pat is … Well he's more of a guy."

"Last time I checked, so was I," Dennis said with a laugh. "I see your point I suppose. I'm not exactly as manly as Patrick. Don't worry. You'll get through it, I'm sure."

"I'm not so sure," Sam said. "If I see another empty beer can, I'm gonna lose it."

"You have my permission to do so," Dennis said, smiling. "I need to go now. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Deal with Pat til then."

"Yes, well if you come home and I've murdered him, don't be shocked," Sam replied so seriously that Dennis couldn't help but laugh once again.

"I promise, I'll walk into the door, see the blood and the first thing out of my mouth will be 'Well, she did warn me!'," Dennis said and this time Sam laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Out of the three of them, only Dennis had been home for Christmas at any point. Patrick was estranged from his parents and Sam's family were holidaying in America without her as she couldn't afford to pay her own way. Dennis had spent Christmas Eve and some of Christmas Day with the two of them before heading off to spend time with his parents and Teddy, who had been slightly put out that Dennis wasn't there Christmas morning. It was, to the best of his knowledge, the first time that Sam and Patrick had spent more than a day alone together. Sam was still getting over her last break-up and Patrick was too lazy to go anywhere else. As a result, they were forced to spend time together. It didn't entirely shock Dennis that they weren't getting along all that well as they were two very different people.

He had spoken to Patrick earlier that very day, in fact, and he had complained about Sam just as much as she complained about him. He felt as though she was trying to restrict him in some way, and he resented it. Dennis tried to make it seem like he agreed with him, and subtly told him to do something to counteract it so that they could at least live together without tearing each other apart. Dennis was fond of both Sam and Pat so he didn't like that they weren't getting along together.

"I take it Sam and Patrick aren't getting along too well then?" Dennis' father asked when Dennis walked into the room. Dennis laughed.

"No they really aren't," he said. "They're really only friends because I'm friends with both of them. This will be good for them, though. They need to just get comfortable around each other. They haven't had all that much of a chance before now to do that."

"Some people are just like that," his father said. "Some people just don't click and there's nothing to be done." Dennis thought oddly of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. He had seen enough of them in his few years at Hogwarts to know that they weren't exactly the type of people to usually get along. If they were ever alone, it would usually dissolve into some argument or another. Without Harry Potter, Dennis knew that they would never have even been friends.

"Maybe," Dennis said. "I think they just need me there. I'm usually pretty good at diffusing this sort of thing for them."

"Well, let's hope so," his father said with a smile. "At least they've only got the one day. Are you still planning on going back tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Dennis said. "If it weren't for Teddy, I'd be on my way home right now."

When Teddy had learned that Dennis was going home, he had done something that Dennis had not seen him do before. He threw a bit of a tantrum. To Dennis, this was both hilarious and cute. As Teddy got angry, his hair started to cycle around different colours and, at the point that he seemed to be the most angry, different lengths. Dennis noticed at one point that his hair was actually three different colours at once at one point. Three patches, precisely horizontal across his head. His fringe was red, the top of his head was aqua and at the back it had been black. Dennis' parents weren't pleased that Dennis was laughing so hard. He just leaned down and hugged Teddy and told him he would stay one more day. After that, Teddy had been elated and his hair settled back down to the usual dark brown. His parents had still sent him to his room for a time out, however, and told Dennis that it was probably best not to laugh if that happens again.

"If I ever have kids," Dennis had said at the time, grinning, "I'll take that into account. For right now, that's just funny." Dennis realised at that time that he was now thinking of Teddy as his little brother. He had known it before, but he had not appreciated it until that point.

"He worships you, you know?" his father told him quietly. "He's never thrown a tantrum like the one he threw earlier when you told him that you were going."

"Worship might be a bit far," Dennis muttered.

"Trust me, it's worship," his father said firmly. "Every day he asks about you. Without fail. I don't think you appreciate just what you did for him."

"I only did what anyone else would do," Dennis replied.

"Perhaps," his father agreed. "Still, you don't see it do you?"

"See what?" Dennis asked.

"You gave Teddy the first real life he has ever known," his father said seriously. "The only life he ever knew before that was one on the run or in hiding. His only memories are likely of his grandmother before she died and then being on the run with someone else afterwards. Then you come along and all of a sudden, he has a happy life. Is it any wonder he worships you like he does?"

"Why are you telling me this anyway?" Dennis asked. His father shrugged.

"I know you're in this period of your life where you aren't a kid, but you aren't quite an adult either," his father said, standing up. "No, don't look at me like that. It's true. You don't have truly adult responsibilities, but you aren't just some kid anymore either. I know you don't want to have this responsibility because of this space you're in, but Teddy needs you. Almost as much as he needs your mother and me. Your mother and I know that you need to live your own life, but he doesn't understand that at all."

"What should I do?" Dennis asked exasperatedly. His father placed a hand on his shoulder.

"An extra call to talk to him every now and then would go a long way," his father said. "You never had a little brother, but you do now. Remember how Colin used to send you a letter every week when you weren't there? It always made you so happy. That's all you need to do. Just call more often and talk to him so he doesn't think that you're abandoning him."

Dennis realised that it was one of the rare times that his father even mentioned Colin. It was not something that was talked about within the family. In fact, Dennis was certain that he had talked about Colin more in the last few months with Patrick and Sam than he had in five years with both of his parents combined. He nodded his head, remembering the letters he used to get. He realised that he still had them stored in his room.

"Dad," Dennis said quietly. "Have you been in his room?" He didn't need to say who he was talking about.

"I can't bring myself to," his father admitted quietly. "I think about it every time I walk past that door, but I'm not strong enough. I don't want to face up to it, I guess."

Dennis decided not to tell his father that he had been in the room himself. He knew it was selfish to keep it from his parents, but he couldn't help himself.

With the conversation seemingly over, Dennis walked to his old room, which was now being occupied by Teddy, who was playing with some of his new toys on the floor. His face lit up when he saw Dennis, as it usually did and Dennis wondered if his father was right. Dennis sat down and grabbed a truck.

"You shouldn't get angry like you did earlier," Dennis said with a smile. "I know you don't want me to leave again, but you know I have to. If I don't, my friends wouldn't like me very much." _Well it's not a lie_, Dennis thought as a thought flashed through his mind of Sam chasing after Patrick with a large knife and Patrick screaming like a little girl.

"Oh," Teddy said, looking down. "I didn't think about that."

"Exactly," Dennis said. "How would your friends like it if you stayed away from them for too long?"

"I guess," the five year old murmured. "I just don't want you to go."

"I know, buddy," Dennis said. "How about this then? I'll call once a week just to talk to you. I can't come home every week, but is that good?"

"Just for me?" Teddy asked with a smile. Dennis nodded.

"Just for you," he confirmed. Teddy reached over and hugged him.

"Thanks," he said. Dennis laughed.

"Anything for you," he said truthfully, putting down the truck he was holding. "Can I just have a look in the cupboard?"

"What for?" Teddy asked.

"I left something in there and I'd like to take it back with me," Dennis replied. Teddy nodded.

"What is it?" he asked as he followed Dennis to the cupboard. Dennis opened it and knelt on the floor. He found the box and pulled it out as Teddy watched over his shoulder.

"It's all the letters my big brother used to send me when he was away at school," Dennis explained. "I didn't like him having to go, like you don't like me having to go. So he wrote me one letter every week. I decided to save them."

He omitted the fact that there were several weeks when he didn't get a letter as Colin had been petrified by a Basilisk hidden underneath the school for hundreds of years. He wasn't sure what Teddy could understand about such things, so he decided that it was all best left unsaid.

"Why'd you keep them?" Teddy asked.

"I never wanted to throw them away," he explained. "This was all I had of Colin for a few years."

"He had to go away like Dolly, didn't he?" Teddy asked. Dennis was impressed that Teddy remembered the conversation that the two of them had had the first night that Teddy stayed here.

"Yes, he did," Dennis said. Teddy was quiet after that. Dennis ruffled his hair and left the room, knowing that Teddy would soon find a distraction. He envied that quality in children.

That night, when he knew that his parents were both asleep, Dennis took out his wand and used it as a light to read one of the letters as he sat on the couch in the living room. It didn't have a date on it, as Colin had never felt the need to date any of his letters, but Dennis knew that it was from late in Colin's second year as it was one of the last letters that Dennis had received.

_Dennis,_

_I can't wait for you to get to Hogwarts next year! It's getting closer and closer now and I just want you to be able to see everything in the magical world that I have been able to see the last two years. I just can't stop myself from thinking about you being here next year. It'll be great!_

_I mean, this year hasn't been too great here. What with Sirius Black and the dementors. I count myself lucky that I haven't had a run-in with either of them. There was that one time in the Common Room, but no one really knows what happened there._

_School's winding down now. Exams start soon. I'm a bit worried about them, especially since I was petrified for a lot of last year. The extra tutoring has been helpful. It was nice of Professor Dumbledore to offer that, and it has helped. Professor Sprout is so nice that I have started to wish that I was in Hufflepuff, as she's the head of that house. And, no, I won't tell you how the Sorting happens! Stop asking._

_Malfoy tried to bully me the other day. The normal stuff that he tries. Nothing I can't deal with, truly. This time, though, Harry stood up for me. It wasn't much, but it was nice of him. I'm not even sure if he did it because it was me, or because it was Malfoy. Either way, it took the focus off me, which I'm pleased about. You'll have to watch out for Malfoy when you get here. He doesn't like Muggle-borns like us, and he doesn't like me specifically either, so you'll probably be a target of his as well. But don't worry. You know I'll back you up if it happens._

_I'm sorry, but I don't really have all that much to say. It's been pretty boring recently. Nothing's really changed. And there doesn't seem to be some giant snake this year anyway._

_I think I'll leave it there. Make sure you write me back._

_Love,_

_Colin_

Dennis put the letter back into the box. It didn't take him long to realise that there was so much left unsaid in all of his brother's letters over the years. Having read even what little he had of Colin's journal, Dennis knew more about his brother than Colin had ever let him see through the letters. Before Hogwarts, Dennis had been so excited to get letters from his brother, that he never really saw them for what they were. Vaguely he wondered if their parents had ever seen it.

Colin had never had any friends at Hogwarts. Not really. Dennis should have seen that from the letters over those two years. Not once was a friend ever mentioned. He mentioned Harry and, occasionally, Ron and Hermione. Sometimes Ginny Weasley who was always nice to him. He mentioned Draco Malfoy bullying him. He mentioned the professors. Mainly Professor Sprout who had been the one to tutor him to get him caught up to where he needed to be. But rarely anyone else.

Dennis now fully understood why Colin had been looking forward to him coming to Hogwarts as well. Dennis had no doubt that Colin truly did want him to experience everything, but he also knew that there was the thought that he would finally have someone there with him.

_Make sure you write me back._

That line was so different to the rest. So direct. So flat. It wasn't Colin asking, it was him demanding it, something that Colin never did. It wasn't in his nature.

Dennis began to think, not for the first time, that he blamed Harry Potter. But he didn't think on this very much. He knew full well that Harry had far more important things on his mind. He remembered the meeting with Nearly Headless Nick. Nick had said that Voldemort killed Harry twice. It was clear to Dennis that there was more than a little truth to the stuff about him being the Chosen One. Someone with that burden couldn't be blamed for not being a friend to someone.

In truth, Dennis knew that there was no one to blame for Colin's friendlessness and loneliness at Hogwarts, save Colin himself. He didn't like to think it, but he knew that had Colin not acted so obsessed in his First Year, there might have been a different outcome. Everyone else couldn't seem to find it within them to accept that Colin made a mistake. So, Dennis concluded that he couldn't blame anyone. What happened happened and Dennis couldn't change it, no matter how much he wished that he could.

Dennis put the box and his wand on the floor next to the couch, rolled over and closed his eyes. It didn't take him long to fall asleep.

"You promise you'll call?" Teddy asked apprehensively as Dennis put his bag in his car the next day. When Dennis turned around, the boy looked worried.

"Of course!" Dennis said with a broad smile. "I gave you my word. I'll call on Wednesday night, how about that?"

"Cool," Teddy said excitedly.

"And you won't throw any more tantrums?" Dennis asked with a wide grin. His parents looked on with odd looks as Teddy looked slightly ashamed.

"I won't," he said quietly.

"Good," Dennis said, hugging Teddy who seemed to be trying to crush him. He then kissed his mother on the cheek and hugged his father.

"Drive carefully," his mother said.

"Always," Dennis replied with a smile. His mother had never been fond of the idea of Dennis with a car, which Dennis had always found odd. "I'll let you know when I get there, as I always do."

Dennis got in the car and drove off. He looked in his rear view mirror to see Teddy waving goodbye like a madman. Dennis chuckled to himself and put his eyes back on the road.

About half an hour after he started driving, he saw some odd things in the distance. He saw several strange flashes of light, which he passed off as something mundane like people with fireworks. That was until he saw the Dark Mark go up in the sky somewhere off towards where he had seen the lights emanate from.

Immediately he pulled over to the side of the road, looking at the mark in the sky. After a moment he pulled out his phone and sent a text straight to Sam, his hands shaking.

_Will be a bit longer than expected. I'll let you know when I get started again._

After the message was sent, he got back into his car and made his way towards the Dark Mark which hung in the sky like a firework slowed down in time. When he finally reached the house the mark was over, he stopped his car on the side of the road a few houses down. He saw a man walk past his car, not a care in the world despite what was happening in plain sight just a few metres away from him.

Dennis could see the front yard of the house clearly. There were seven people there, four of them in dark cloaks with hoods up. The other three were in Muggle clothes. The three in Muggle clothes appeared to be duelling the other four. There were two men and one woman. The first, and closest to the house, was a shorter than average man with dark grey hair. He was wearing black suit pants with what appeared to be a nice purple button-up shirt. Next to him was a woman of average height, though next to the first man she was a giant. She had black hair which flowed to her lower back. She was moving nimbly as she avoided the spells thrown in her direction. Next to her was a much taller man. He had curly white hair and seemed to be wearing a sort-of archaic maroon suit, down to the frilly cuffs.

Dennis moved to exit his car but found that he couldn't open the door or even leave the seat at all. He turned to the passenger's side seat and found a man sitting right next to him. There was a dark bandana covering the lower portion of his face, and he had a hooded jacket on with the hood up. All Dennis could see were the man's eyes. There was something familiar about him, but in the panic Dennis couldn't think what it was.

"Get out of my car!" Dennis yelled finally.

"I'm afraid I can't do that right now," the man replied, looking over to Dennis and away from the duel being fought in a Muggle street in broad daylight with a lot of potential onlookers. The man's voice seemed to be distorted somehow in a way that made him sound as though he wasn't human.

"You did this," Dennis accused, referring to his not being able to move out of his car.

"If you're referring to keeping you here, then you're right," the man replied. "I did do that. It's for your own safety."

"I want to help them," Dennis said, looking over at the duel that was still going on. He saw the taller man in the archaic clothing take out one of the attackers, leaving three to go. The woman was manoeuvring her way around to the side of the house and one of the Death Eaters not involved in the duel took chase, leaving two against three in the front yard.

"You would only be in their way," the man said simply. "Those three have been doing this sort of thing for a long time now. They trust each other implicitly and completely. You would ruin that and would almost certainly either get yourself or them killed if you went out there and interfered." The little man dodged a Killing Curse so deftly that Dennis was almost certain that he had been hit. Another person walked past Dennis' car, not even looking towards all the lights.

"Why aren't they more concerned?" Dennis asked.

"The Death Eaters put up a temporary Muggle repelling field," the man explained. "They still don't want to be found out by Muggles, oddly enough."

"How do you know this?" Dennis asked. "More to the point, why don't you help them? Are you one of You-Know-Who's?"

"Of course not," the man said hastily and more than a little angrily. "I'm not helping them for the same reason that I'm stopping you. I _could_ help them though. Much more than you could. In truth, I'm here as an observer only. See that tall man?"

Dennis looked on as the tall man jumped out of the way of a sickly pink curse, landed on the ground and rolled quickly to his feet, firing a return curse of a dark brown colour.

"Yeah," he said. He found that he was still shaking. "Who is he?"

"I fear that telling you would put him at risk," the man replied. "You see, that's not who he really is. He has made a life out of Polyjuice Potion the last few years. I don't think he has used his real face away from the other two once since the ascension of You-Know-Who. He's also, as you will see soon, a master of faking his own death. My point is that I'm here to see what he does. You see, I've only recently learned that he exists. He could even hide from me, which has proven to be rather difficult to most others. The other two I found years ago."

"Who are they?" Dennis asked. For a moment, as Dennis saw the woman dive through a window into the house breaking the glass easily, the man was silent.

"Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle," he said reluctantly. "The Ministry knows they're around, so it's not dangerous for you to know. Dangerous for them, that is. They've been doing this sort of thing for years now, apparently with this other guy."

"Who are you anyway?" Dennis asked, wondering why he hadn't asked that before. "Are you with them?"

"It's not important who I am," the man said. "And, no, I'm not with them. They don't know I exist any more than you did until just now."

"If you're not working for You-Know-Who, why wouldn't you join them?" Dennis asked accusingly. The man shrugged. Dennis looked back and saw the windows inside light up a green. He hoped that Hestia Jones hadn't been hit. Anyone fighting against Death Eaters was good in Dennis' eyes. He wasn't a fan of violence himself, but he couldn't deny that most Death Eaters deserved it.

"They're not the right people," the man replied somewhat cryptically. "They've given up any hope that society will go back to how it was. They're not fighting to win. Not at all. It's about vengeance and revenge for them. I don't agree with that."

"You think You-Know-Who can be taken down?" Dennis asked. Hestia Jones ran out of the front door of the house and stunned one of the three Death Eaters fighting Dedalus Diggle and the taller, Polyjuiced man before the Death Eater even knew she was there.

"I firmly believe it," the man said strongly. "Even if I'm the only one, I will fight to my last breath to take him down. So many people gave their lives for that cause, and to throw that away is completely wrong. It's tarnishing the reputations of everyone who died for this cause.

"Harry Potter. Ron Weasley. Hermione Granger. Luna Lovegood. Albus Dumbledore. Kingsley Shacklebolt. Remus Lupin. Nymphadora Tonks. Colin Creevey," the man paused and Dennis drew in a breath. He looked out of the car in time to see the tall man use his wand to blast a hole in one of the Death Eaters' chest, sending blood and flesh everywhere, shocking Dennis and making him feel sick. He didn't think killing was at all the right answer to anything and felt that there was surely something else that the Polyjuiced man could have done. "Any number of Hogwarts teachers and students as well as the civilians. The Weasley family. Those executed for their beliefs and actions. I remember them, and I can't help but be absolutely certain that he can be taken down. If I have to do it myself, then so be it."

"I can help," Dennis said quietly.

"No, I don't think you can," the man said. Dennis felt offended. "I'm sorry, but it's true. You never finished your schooling. The most offensive magic you know is from Dumbledore's Army and even then you were only a Second Year. Besides, it might be too much for you to handle."

"Hey!" Dennis said hotly as Dedalus Diggle took down one more Death Eater, this time with a simple Stunning Spell, something Dennis was much happier with. "I can deal with it."

"Can you?" the man asked, not raising his voice. "Let me tell you something that happened just recently. You-Know-Who attacked Beauxbatons on Christmas Day, did you know that?"

"No, I didn't," Dennis replied, though it didn't really shock him. Beauxbatons was a logical choice of attack for a man like Voldemort.

"I didn't think so," the man continued. "His intention, no doubt, was to try to take France in the same way that he took Britain. He relied on the tactic he used five years ago and took the school. Luckily for France, this seems to have been a mistake on his part. Fleur Delacour, I'm sure you remember her, was at the school that day. I should say Fleur Weasley, actually. She married Bill years ago. Nonetheless, she was there. She found You-Know-Who and actually managed to slice one of his ears clean off, along with some of Lucius Malfoy's fingers. You-Know-Who still killed her.

"That's not all, though," the man continued grimly as Dennis listened intently. "When he came back to Britain, he brought Fleur's body, along with the body of massive Madame Maxime with him. He held a conference, for lack of a better word, for the British Magical Community and declared that he had taken Beauxbatons. He then declared that the French Ministry had two days to pledge allegiance to him or else he would take it by brute force. To show them that he wasn't joking, he proceeded to burn both bodies in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic in front of dozens of witnesses, some of whom cheered as he did so. When they were burnt to nothing but ash, he flew, using wandless and wordless magic, over the Ministry in France, and created a sort-of sandstorm using the ashes of the two women. Suffice it to say, France surrendered after that.

"So, tell me Dennis Creevey," the man with the bandana around his face said stiffly as the tall man took down the final Death Eater, this time with a simple stunner, as Dedalus Diggle had done before. "Do you honestly believe that you can deal with this? This is what I'm up against. What you would be up against. I'm fighting an uphill battle right now, and it won't be pretty."

Dennis was silent. He wanted to say that he could deal with all that. That he would help. But he couldn't. His only thoughts were of his mother and father, Teddy, Patrick and Sam and what might happen to them if he got involved. He couldn't do that. He didn't want any death. Even the Death Eater that he saw the tall man kill was too much for him.

He wanted so very much to help, as he knew that the man in the bandana was right. Voldemort could be killed, he was absolutely sure of it. But he knew that there was too much at risk for him and those he loved. He lost one loved one in the war and he couldn't deal with losing another. He remembered the speech that Dumbledore gave at the end of his First Year about choosing what is right over what is easy, and wondered if he was just choosing what was easy. _This isn't the easy choice_, Dennis thought morosely.

"No, I didn't think so," the man said quietly after some time. "I don't judge you for that, Dennis. In fact, in a way I envy you. You have people you love that you worry about. I wish the same could be said for me, but it can't."

As Dennis watched, he saw the tall man pull out a long knife. He crouched down to one of the Death Eaters and tore off the robe. The man dug the knife into the man's chest and carved something. Dennis felt his stomach churning at the sight.

"Live your life," the man said. "I'll let you know when it's safe to come back." He started to say something else, but stopped when someone apparated into the front yard right next to where Hestia Jones was standing, watching the taller man work. Dennis sucked in a breath.

"Who the hell is that?" the man asked, clearly shocked. Dennis recognised the woman immediately. It was hard not to notice the pink.

"Dolores Umbridge!" Dennis said excitedly. The man looked at him as if Dennis had grown a second head.

"And you're happy to see her?" he asked.

"Kind of," Dennis said. "It's a long story."

"I didn't even realise she was still alive," the man replied. "I knew she defied the Ministry, but I thought she'd be dead by now." _Me too_, Dennis thought.

Dennis watched as the tall man took a rock from Umbridge's hands. The tall man pointed his wand at it and soon the rock took the form of a body, similar to that of the man. They then proceeded to use several offensive spells on the body until it was less recognisable. They let it fall to the ground and then all four of them disapparated away.

"As I told you," the man said. "He faked his own death. Not really necessary, truth be told, but that's not important to him."

Dennis turned to talk to the man again, but he was gone. Dennis tried to move and found that he could open his door once again. He thought for a moment, holding the door open, but closed it again with a sigh. He put his hands out in front of him and found that he was still shaking, though less so than he had been before. His heart was beating faster than usual as well, which was perhaps to be expected. Dennis took three deep breaths before starting his car up and driving away from the house where several robed men lay unconscious, dead or dying.

Almost two hours later he found himself at the door to his apartment. Before he opened it, he thought again of the man with the bandana. He couldn't work him out at all. He didn't fully understand who he was or what his intentions truly were, with the exception that he was working to destroy the new Ministry. In the end, Dennis was more concerned that the man knew that he was still around than anything else. For some reason, he wasn't as worried as he thought that he should be given the situation.

He checked his phone for a moment and saw three texts from Sam, and two from Patrick. Mostly along the lines of "Where are you?" or "How long will you be?". Sam had been the only one of the two to ask if he was okay, which Dennis expected. He realised that he never told Sam when he was leaving after he messaged her. After everything, it had simply slipped his mind.

Dennis opened the door to find an empty and quiet living room. He was sure that he had seen Patrick and Sam's cars, but he assumed that he was wrong or that they had gone somewhere without them. He took his bags into his room and thought he heard a banging noise in one of the rooms. Instantly his heart started beating again and his mind instantly jumped to the man with the bandana. Dennis swiftly took his wand out and moved to the door of Patrick's room. He pushed it open and immediately regretted it as he saw Patrick and Sam naked on the bed.

Dennis screamed and slammed the door shut.


	17. Behind the Memory Charm

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 17**_

_**Behind the Memory Charm**_

_"Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were."  
_\- Marcel Proust

_**Justin Finch-Fletchley**_

_**28th December, 2003**_

Christmas went slowly for Justin. The last three years he had been able to celebrate Christmas with Zach, but this year was different entirely as Zach had to spend it with his new wife as well as her family. Justin completely understood and told Zach as much during one of his visits not long before Christmas, however he couldn't help but feel annoyed that it was happening.

In fact, this annoyance was growing more quickly with every passing day. Not at Zach, but at everything else that was contributing to Justin not being able to spend as much time as he liked with the man he loved more than anything else in the world. It was not something that Justin was proud of, but he was feeling it nonetheless and couldn't shake the feeling. Unfortunately it was Susan who was feeling the majority of the brunt of Justin's feelings as she was the only outlet for his frustrations.

"He hasn't been here since the twenty-third," Justin complained and Susan looked on with a caring look. Justin was feeling bad that he was offloading his problems onto Susan, but took some solace in the knowledge that Susan was fine with it. Even at Hogwarts Susan would be able to listen to anyone talk about something that annoyed them every day without once getting annoyed herself.

"Come on, Jus," Susan said somewhat soothingly. "You know that he has to be with Pansy right now. He's still basically a newlywed after all. You can't go blaming him for that. Besides, it's only been five days. Give him time."

"I know, I know," Justin said with a sigh. "It's just getting so frustrating. He's only been married a bit over a month, but it feels like so much longer to me. For three years he was the only person I had in the world, and right now it just feels like he's slipping away from me. God, it's only been a month!"

"You'll get through it," Susan said, pulling Justin into a hug, something she had done many times during his Hogwarts years. "They won't be newlyweds forever. Sooner or later that will fizzle out. Especially since it seems like neither side actually want the marriage. I mean, I've seen him talk about her. He feels nothing for her. Sooner or later that will win over. They'll be married, but they simply won't like it. Chances are she'll find someone else just like Zach has."

"Or she might already have someone," Justin said. He knew that he was getting alarmingly close to saying something he shouldn't, so he resolved to be careful. "I mean, we both know Parkinson."

"You might be right," Susan said.

"How do you know about these sorts of relationships anyway?" Justin asked suddenly.

"Aunt Amelia told me about them," Susan said. "It's something that's just a part of our culture. The Bones family was, and I suppose still is, a Pureblood family. In order to remain this way, families like ours used to arrange marriages with other Pureblood families. For some reason it never happened in my parents' generation, but it could have happened to me."

"How's that?" Justin asked.

"Aunt Amelia had a few offers for me over the years," Susan said with a laugh. "After most of the family was wiped out, some of the lesser Pureblood families figured that the Bones family would be desperate. Aunt Amelia basically gave me the choice. Either arranged marriage or my choice. It's not shocking that I chose to make the decision myself."

"No, it absolutely isn't," Justin said with a laugh. "How do you do this?"

"Do what?" Susan asked, perplexed.

"Take my mind off things," Justin clarified. "Ever since we've been friends whenever I would go to you like this, you always manage to cheer me up."

"Let's just chalk it up to talent, shall we?" Susan said with a smile. "Look, don't worry too much about Zach, okay? He just needs some time. I don't know how long, but he just needs it. Things might not be the same as it was with you two, but it will get better. I promise."

"I guess," Justin said. "I'm just glad I have you."

"I'm glad you have me too," Susan said, smirking. "If you didn't you would be an absolute mess, you know that?"

"Oh, I definitely would be," Justin agreed. "A complete blubbering mess."

"I'm glad I'm being of some use," Susan replied.

"Speaking of," Justin said. "Have you had any luck with the memory charm stuff?"

"Actually I have, yeah," Susan said with a smirk. "I imagine if you weren't whining so much I'd have already told you all about it."

"Okay, I deserved that," Justin said with a laugh. "What did you find?"

"A few things, actually," Susan replied, taking a book out of a magically enhanced handbag she had found at Longbottom Manor. Justin could see the title. _Memory Charms and Mind Magic_. For some reason that underwhelmed him. "I couldn't find any books on Mind Magic back home, so I went back into Hogwarts again."

"You shouldn't have done that," Justin said sharply. "You-Know-Who has wards up and he might have found you."

"Remember, I've been there before now," Susan pointed out. "I saw Trelawney and the Elf Winky."

"I forgot about that," Justin admitted. "But even so, that's a dangerous thing to do, don't you think?"

"The wards are weak at some points," Susan said with a shrug. "I don't think I'm the only one who knows either. When I got there I noticed some prints in the mud leading up to the forest. Besides, I wasn't caught and nothing remotely exciting happened. I just went into the castle, went straight to the library, broke in and stole a book from the Restricted Section. No big deal."

"Next time tell me and I'll go with you," Justin said firmly.

"The Ministry knows I'm alive, Jus," Susan said. "For Merlin's sake, I'm Undesirable No. 1! You aren't even on their radar. I'm going to be in danger no matter what I do or where I go. There's no point in you getting put in danger as well."

"You know I want to help," Justin said. "Just tell me next time, alright?" Susan sighed.

"How you didn't get into Gryffindor I don't know," she said exasperatedly. Justin chuckled. "Anyway, this book has quite a section on memory charms, what with it being the most used magic on minds. It's a good thing that I have a lot of time on my hands these days."

"So you can get rid of the block?" Justin asked.

"I think I can, yeah," Susan replied, opening the book to a bookmark. Like most of the books that Justin had seen from the Restricted Section in the Hogwarts Library, the book was quite old, but was in good condition, which he knew was more from magic than anything else. "Most of the ways around these blocks are nothing short of horrible. I can see why this book was Restricted. Some of the methods involved the Unforgivables. Apparently that was one of the reasons that the Cruciatus was invented. This book doesn't go into detail about the spell, but it does say that the immense pain caused by the Cruciatus tends to break down a block on someone's memory. It's not useful in some cases because the stronger the block, the more someone needs to be under the curse for it to have an effect. There's another one using the Imperius Curse as well, but that's generally only good for memory charms created by people with weaker magic."

"I'm glad you don't have to use either of them," Justin said. The only time he had been under the influence of an Unforgivable had been in his Fourth Year when he was being taught by the fake Mad-Eye Moody. He took great pride in being one of the first to be able to shake off the curse when it happened.

"So am I," Susan replied. "I've never used one of them before. Probably never will."

"Probably?" Justin asked.

"Never rule anything out," Susan said grimly. "If it came down to life or death, I think a Killing Curse might be reasonable."

Justin had not even once considered utilising any of the Unforgivables in any way before, and was shocked to think that Susan, of all people, ever would. He wondered to himself if he might ever be in a situation where he would consider using one of them, and immediately thought of Zach being tortured at the hands of Voldemort.

"Anyway, that's beside the point," Susan said. "There are a bunch of painful ways to get rid of these blocks. Most of them are designed for the block to be forcibly removed, mostly without the consent of the person with the block. I suspect there are times where Aurors or someone like that might need to do it."

"Or You-Know-Who," Justin suggested. Susan nodded.

"Yes, I imagine he's well versed in the Cruciatus one among others," Susan agreed. "Anyway, there's one that should work. It will still be painful for you, but only mentally not physically. It requires a legilimens and the person with the block to consent. Of course, you don't have to consent."

"What?" Justin asked, confused. "Why wouldn't I?"

"That block might very well be there for a good reason," Susan explained. "For all we know the memory could cause you a great deal of pain or grief. Perhaps it's something that you don't want to remember. You might even have asked for it."

"Even if it is any of that, I still want to know it," Justin replied. "Everyone has bad memories and they simply learn to live with them. I should have that freedom. This is why I don't think that this memory was a personal request from me. I can't imagine ever wanting to have my mind altered in any way."

"If the person who did it to you meant you harm, they surely would have been able to harm you at the time," Susan pointed out.

"Even so, it could easily be a violation of my privacy," Justin said fervently. "Susan, I want this, okay? Nothing will change my mind."

"Okay, but just know that if we do this, we can't cover the memory again," Susan said. "That's the only caveat for this particular method of removing a block."

"I'm fine with that," Justin said with a firm nod. "I'll live with whatever it is."

"Okay," Susan said finally. "We'll do it now. What you have to do is focus your mind specifically on the block in your memory. I know you can't actually feel it, but if you know yourself that it's there, that will help guide me towards it. When I get there, you can't allow any resistance at all. You have to focus purely on the block in your memory and you have to think hard that you want it gone from your mind. Only think about that. I have to say a spell and when I do, it will feel like your mind is under attack with a battering ram, at least that's how the book describes it. I might have to do this a few times, and it will likely cause you to get quite a great headache."

"How you didn't get into Ravenclaw I don't know," Justin teased. Susan laughed.

"Shut up," she said with a smile. "You ready to go? Remember, no resistance at all. And focus."

"Got it," Justin replied, mentally lowering what small defences he had and focusing on the blocked memory.

"_Legilimens_," Susan said.

Justin didn't feel a thing before he suddenly saw a memory.

He was around eight years old and at his old Muggle school, the playground of which had a single brick wall, painted with bright colours by students long gone. It was a challenge for any of the kids to try and climb it, something that Justin never wanted to do. That day a bully had teased him about it, so Justin, in his anger, said he would do it. He reached out to the wall and grabbed at a brick, pulling himself up. He put his foot somewhere else and fount another good place for his hand. The wall was not very high, but it felt fantastic to get to the top and over the other side.

The scene changed. Justin was walking with Susan and Ernie down the halls of Hogwarts in their third year.

"I know a better way," Justin said, turning away from them with the other two quickly following. "There's a wall we can walk through right here."

Justin walked right up to the completely solid wall and almost fell backwards, but Ernie caught him despite his and Susan's gales of laughter.

As it had before, the scene attempted to change but got stuck somewhere and went to black. Justin set his mind to only thinking about getting rid of the block in his memory. It was all he allowed himself to think about. So much so that he barely registered the distant sound of Susan's voice.

"_Legilimens Obicia Percutus_," Susan said.

It felt as though Justin had been struck by a sudden migraine and his mind, for a moment, started to falter. As he began to feel the pain in his head, he remembered what he had to do and began to think once again about wanting the block on his memory gone for good.

"_Legilimens Obicia Percutus_," Susan repeated, though Justin could barely hear her over the pain and his own focus.

Once again, it felt as though there was a blow to his mind, and this time the effects were more pronounced as he felt the pain more acutely. He was aware that he was groaning in agony, but Susan didn't stop the connection. Soon Justin regained his thoughts and began to focus solely on getting rid of the memory charm that was giving him so much grief and pain.

"_Legilimens Obicia Percutus_," Susan repeated for a third time, nothing more than a quiet whisper to Justin now.

This one felt different. As opposed to the pain being akin to taking a bat to his head, this time it felt as though something had smashed. The pain was magnified at least three-fold this time, with Justin grabbing at his head in pain and writhing on the couch that he shared with Susan.

Justin's mind seemed to be working in overdrive as the pain washed over him, though in retrospect not a great deal of it made sense. _100, 300, 830, 934, 1057, 20, 746, 82_, Justin thought to himself for no apparent reason. He knew in his mind that it didn't make any sense but he couldn't stop himself and the numbers kept coming, devoid of rationality or reason.

Justin found himself reliving a succession of various memories as well, evoking many different emotional reactions in his mind. All of these reactions seemed to happen at once and confused the part of Justin that still seemed to be awake at the time, despite the pain that was throbbing in his mind.

Suddenly Justin sat bolt upright and painfully opened his eyes which were filled with tears from the pain, his mind feeling as though it was being ripped apart. He looked into Susan's face, breathing rapidly, his eyes moving from one part of Susan's face to the next. Eyes, mouth, nose, freckle, a lock of hair, mouth, nose, hair, eyes. He could tell that Susan was very worried about him. It was all over her face. He wanted to say something, but when he opened his mouth, no words would come out.

A sudden, immense pain ripped through his head and he screamed out in pain and fell backwards. When his head hit the edge of the couch, softened though it was, he passed out.

The next thing that Justin could remember was a pair of familiar voices just on the edge of hearing. He couldn't make out what they were saying because he was finding it hard to focus due to the splitting headache he was feeling as well as the pain in the back of his head as well. He groaned and tried to open his eyes. He felt someone's hand grip his own.

"Jus?" Susan whispered as Justin finally opened his eyes. He was glad to note that the room was dark. If there had been much light, he was sure that it would have been painful. He looked to his right and saw Susan's face. "You need to take this potion. It's for the pain."

Justin felt the other hand leave his and Susan handed him the flask. Justin held it in shaking hands and slowly reached it to his mouth. Knowing that it was guaranteed to taste extremely foul, he resolved to down it all as quickly as he could. It was as he expected, but he didn't gag and let the potion flow down his throat. He closed his eyes again. In mere moments he felt the pain fleeing his head, leaving only a dull ache where it had been throbbing seconds beforehand.

"How long was I out?" Justin asked, opening his eyes again.

"Three hours," Susan replied.

"Lucky it wasn't more," Zach said and Justin sat up immediately.

"Zach," Justin said, as though a weight had been lifted from him. "When did you get here?"

"About two hours after you hit your head," Zach said before reaching over and kissing Justin. "Don't worry, Susan told me what happened."

"Oh!" Justin said, suddenly remembering what they had been trying to achieve. "The memory!"

"Did it work?" Susan asked intently.

"Yeah, it did," Justin said quickly. "Then again, with all that pain I would hope so."

"That didn't look fun," Susan said. "You kept muttering numbers then you stopped for a while. After that you just seemed to look at me. Your eyes were bugging out. I've never seen anything like it."

"I've never felt anything like it," Justin muttered.

"What was it then?" Zach asked.

"I think you'll have to tell us," Susan said. "I would take a look myself, but that's not fair to Zach here."

"Yeah, okay," Justin said. "Just give me a second. There's a bit to this, so I'm going to have to start before the blocked memory to give it some context."

After a few moments, Justin began to recount the memory that had been blocked to his best friend and his boyfriend.

* * *

_**11th December, 1999**_

On Justin's eighteenth birthday, he had received a large sum of money that his parents had put away for him when he was younger. His parents had both come from very wealthy families, with his paternal grandfather being a well-known entrepreneur in his time and his maternal grandfather being a successful businessman. As a result, both of Justin's parents had inherited large amounts of money from their parents as they were the only children in their families.

In fact, the Finch-Fletchley family were one of the richest families in Muggle Britain, something that Justin never wanted to make a big fuss about around all of his friends at Hogwarts. Occasionally he would let slip something that would allude to just how well-off his family was, but most of the time he kept it to himself, only telling his closest friends when he knew that they were to be trusted.

It was five months prior, on the seventeenth of July, that Justin had turned eighteen and inherited the wealth that he always knew that he would. It was not long after that, in September, that Justin decided to leave home. Both of his parents were still working for a living, not that they needed to, so he was always alone for the most part anyway. He figured that he may as well have his own place to live. He decided on a house a few blocks away from his parents.

Justin didn't want to live too far away from his parents as he didn't really have anyone else. As far as he could tell, every friend that he had made in his youth were either dead or in hiding, and Justin found it difficult to make friends with the people who his parents mingled with, who tended to be on the richer end of the spectrum as well.

So, Justin had found a place in a smaller, less rich area of the town that was only a ten minute drive away from his parents and actually bought the house. He spent quite a long time, mostly with help from his mother, picking out furniture and everything else that he needed and was moved in relatively quickly, thanks in no small part to the magic that he rarely used.

It was evening and his parents were visiting for dinner. They mostly alternated where to go when they came for dinner, and it was Justin's night. Justin was just getting the hang of cooking.

"You need to get out more," his mother, Jenna, said as they were eating dinner. Jenna was a straight-forward sort of woman, who Justin had always compared Professor McGonagall to. "You barely leave the house and when you do it is to see us or go shopping. It's not healthy."

"You don't know that," Justin replied.

"Of course I do, I'm your mother," his mother replied swiftly and curtly.

"Your mother is right," his father, Robert, agreed gruffly. Robert was a tall man, always dressed impeccably with a constant close-cropped beard which he took immaculate care of. "You should get a job."

"Yeah, maybe," Justin replied.

"You should," his father insisted. "Just because you have some money doesn't mean you don't have to work. The world only continues because people like us put in the hard yards."

Justin wasn't sure what to say to his father after that. Justin's world had stopped when he discovered what had happened at Hogwarts. The Hufflepuff House ghost, the Fat Friar, found him and informed him as to what had happened during the Final Battle. The Friar also told him that the ghosts were out there warning anyone that they knew were still alive and didn't know what had happened. As it turned out, the network of ghosts that resided at Hogwarts was more useful than Justin had originally thought.

After the day the Friar found him, Justin had lost something. Something that he couldn't find again. There was a part of him missing that went away the moment that the Wizarding world turned into a dark, cold and unforgiving place. In truth, Justin wasn't sure that he felt that he could do anything.

"I always liked writing," Justin said finally. "I could try my hand at that." His parents shared an odd look that spoke volumes about what they really thought about that particular vocation.

"I don't think –" his father started but he was cut off.

"Whatever makes you happy, dear," his mother cut in.

"Jenna, I really think he should –" his father began.

"No," his mother said with an air of finality before turning to Justin. "Do that if it makes you happy. But you should at least socialise a little bit. Make some friends."

"I can do that," Justin said with a fake smile, his mind on all of his friends that he would likely never see again. He could tell that his parents both cared for him and were also sceptical as to whether he would follow through on his promise.

The following day dawned brighter than Justin had expected it to. All of the weather forecasts from the previous day had said that it would be an incredibly dull and cold day. While it was, indeed, cold, Justin found the sudden nice weather odd. He decided to try some socialising as his mother had asked him to. He didn't think that anything would come of it, but he felt he should try.

_What's the worst that could happen, really?_ Justin told himself as he through on a coat.

* * *

"This is where the block started," Justin told Zach and Susan. Susan was looking at him with slight pity on her face. Zach, on the other hand, knew how Justin had been after the Fat Friar visited to tell him of the events of the Battle of Hogwarts. It had been Zach who pulled him out of his depression after that.

* * *

Justin locked the front door of the house and got into his car. He decided that a good place to try first would be a library. He didn't feel as though he was up to going somewhere else like a pub or something. Despite it being a Sunday, the library was open, albeit it was to close earlier than usual. Justin had to park about a block away from the library and walk the rest of the way.

"Are you sure Dawlish said today?" Justin heard as he was walking down the street. The voice was female and came from the two in front of him.

"Yes, he did," the male of the two said. The man was reasonably tall and had dirty blonde hair that extended down past his shoulder. "He's not lied to us yet."

"It doesn't look like anything is happening," the woman said curtly. Justin noticed that she was shorter than average and, from her voice and what he could see of her, she was much older than the man.

"They aren't exactly known for their punctuality, Augusta," the man said wryly.

It was almost exactly as the man stopped talking that there was a loud explosion ahead of them. Justin stopped walking and watched as dust and debris exploded out of the library down the street. Justin could hear some people screaming and saw people running around trying to get out of harm's way.

The two people in front of him, much to Justin's surprise, acted swiftly and had their wands in their hands and were running towards the library, casting bubble-head charms on themselves before going into the cloud of dust. Justin himself quickly reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out the wand that, even now, never went anywhere without. He looked around and found that the street was nearly deserted.

Justin ran forward to where the two had gone before, only to find that they had disappeared into the library. As Justin watched, two people in dark cloaks with hoods up came out of the alleyway beside the library. The first was casting a spell that Justin couldn't hear. The second pointed their wand skyward.

"_Morsmordre_!" the man screamed and a light green mist escaped his wand, quickly worming its way into the sky and forming into an image that Justin recognised immediately. _The Dark Mark_, Justin thought, his heart racing even more than before. He looked back down in time to see the Death Eater who had cast the Dark Mark look directly at him, his wand raised. Justin heard more than saw the words the man was speaking. "_Avada Kedavra_!"

Justin found that he couldn't move at all. The sickly green death curse hurtled towards him at an alarming rate and Justin couldn't move a muscle. He stood there dumbly watching on as the well-aimed curse lit up his face, making it a green colour. He closed his eyes, fearing a pain that would never come. A chunk of cement from the library was moved in front of him, shattering into thousands of pieces as the Killing Curse hit it. Justin opened his eyes in time to see someone run in front of him.

"_Ossvalide_!" the man who Justin couldn't see cried, aiming his wand at the caster of the Dark Mark who cast a shield, which shattered when the Curse hit it. Justin watched as the Death Eater grabbed at his arm in pain and yelled out. Unluckily for Justin's saviour, it was not his wand arm.

"_Crucio_!" the Death Eater yelled. Justin saw the man in front of him flinch, but dodge easily away. Justin, too, had to dodge and soon ran forward to help.

"_Estufictans_!" the man yelled and the area in front of his wand seemed to shimmer for a moment. Justin was about to shoot off a stunner, but felt himself physically pushed to the side by the man next to him, after which the man said in a low, distorted voice, "I'll deal with it. Get to some cover."

The Death Eater was screaming, even though there didn't appear to be anything at all wrong with him. He suddenly through himself onto the ground and started rolling around. As he did so, Justin saw the second Death Eater turn from his spell work just in time to see the man fighting his friend silently cast the severing charm on the man writhing on the ground. Justin could see, even through the darkened clothing that the Death Eater wore, the blood start to seep through.

Justin decided that it was best not to cross the man who had saved him and scrambled away backwards, eventually standing up next to a white car on the edge of the road, which he had decided was cover enough. He watched the man dodge a Killing Curse and fire off a curse that seemed to be almost sky blue which hit the Death Eater in the chest. The Death Eater originally didn't seem at all fazed, and raised his wand to send another spell the man's way. However, the man seemed confident as he turned away from the Death Eater and began to walk towards Justin. The Death Eater in the background suddenly dropped his wand and his hands went to his throat. He was clawing at his throat, breaking the skin as his face began to turn a deep blue. The Death Eater fell to the ground and kept clawing at his own throat until he finally ceased all movement.

"You need to leave here right now," the man told Justin as he came upon him. Justin noticed that the man had a dark green bandana covering his mouth and his nose. The hood of his jacket had stayed up even through the fight that he had with the Death Eaters. It was only now that Justin noticed the sword that the man had hanging from a belt around his waist. "Trust me, Justin, it's for your own good."

"How do you know who I am?" Justin asked quickly.

"That doesn't matter," the man with the bandana said. "What matters is that it's dangerous for you to be here. Augusta, Xeno and the others are inside right now. Chances are, there will be more Death Eaters on the way. Despite everything, the Dark Idiot still doesn't want to be seen by the Muggles. He won't take kindly to his followers doing something without his orders."

"I can help!" Justin said fervently.

"Have you ever fought them before?" the man asked.

"No, but I don't care," Justin said.

"Can you kill them if you have to?" he asked, seemingly ignoring Justin.

"I … um …." Justin murmured. Truth be told, he didn't really think that he could kill someone like that. "I've never fought to kill before."

"Exactly," the man replied. "You can't help. I'm sorry, but you can't."

At that moment, two people ran out of the library and headed towards the man in the bandana.

"Who's this?" the tall man with the dirty blonde hair said.

"He's fine, Xeno," the man with the bandana said. "A civilian."

"And a wizard, I see," the older woman, Augusta said.

"Yes, he is," the man replied. "Unfortunately he's not of much use right now."

"I could be," Justin insisted. The man with the bandana turned to him.

"It's over anyway," he said before turning back to Xeno. "Or it will be as soon as we get away. Any deaths of our people?"

"No," Xeno replied. "We were very lucky today. It may have been the Hiflarg in my pocket that gave us the advantage. There were a few Muggle casualties, and more injuries. The others are taking them to the nearest Muggle hospital."

In the silence that followed there was a pained groan that all four heard and reacted to almost simultaneously.

"What was that?" Augusta asked, her wand in her hand quickly as she turned to the source of the sound. Justin followed her vision and saw something that shocked him.

"Oh Merlin," Xeno said under his breath.

Justin followed as the man with the bandana, Augusta and Xeno walked towards the woman trapped under a slab of cement blasted from the wall of the library. Her lower body and left arm appeared to be lodged underneath the heavy cement block. The man with the bandana knelt down next to her.

"I'm so sorry," he said to the woman, his voice no longer distorted, but filled with sadness and regret. Justin saw the woman's pale blue eyes turn to the man's face. He pushed a lock of her brown hair out of her eyes. She groaned and looked around, stopping for a moment on each person, her gaze lingering only a few seconds. When she looked at Justin, it felt as though she was looking right into his soul. Her eyes weren't judgmental or blameful. In fact it seemed to Justin as though her eyes were almost pleased. As if she had accepted her fate and was happy that she wasn't alone.

After gazing at Justin for a few seconds, her eyes turned back to the man with the bandana covering half his face. She looked into his eyes for just a moment before groaning once again. She closed her eyes. She would never open them again.

"Damn it!" the man with the bandana yelled, his voice once again distorted. Augusta placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Alas, another casualty in this war," she said soothingly. The man with the bandana stood up again and faced Justin.

"This is what we face," he said seriously. "There are very few of us remaining now in the fight against the new Ministry. We cannot replace those that we lose, Justin. This woman is the least of the deaths that I've witnessed. Am I wrong in my assumption that this is not the life you want?"

Justin thought for a moment as six eyes were on him. He surveyed the area around him. A Muggle library destroyed simply because it was an easy way to get at a large amounts of defenceless Muggles. Death Eaters mercilessly killed by a man unwilling to let his true identity be known. Muggles dying dangerous and violent deaths without anyone being able to do anything about it.

Justin had not seen anyone die before. He had, of course, seen dead people. He saw his paternal Grandfather moments after he died in hospital when he was nine and had been there to see the mangled body of Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore at the foot of the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts. He had never seen anyone die like this poor Muggle woman, and he certainly had never seen anyone be killed by another person.

"No, you aren't," Justin said quietly. Somewhere inside of him, Justin felt as though he was betraying the magical community with that answer. "I wouldn't be able to deal with it."

"Don't worry about it," Xeno said kindly, with the vaguest hint of a smile playing on his lips. "There are some people who aren't cut out for the life we lead."

"Indeed," Augusta agreed. "I've seen enough people die in my lifetime to not want to put anyone in harm's way who couldn't deal with it."

"You understand, of course, that we'll need to give you a memory charm," the man with the bandana said. "Xeno has gotten quite good at that, as it turns out."

"I'd rather not have," Xeno murmured.

"What?" Justin asked quickly. "A memory charm? Why?"

"We don't want people to know what we're doing," the man replied. "If you were found, you might reveal our involvement here. We can't risk that."

"But I wouldn't," Justin replied. It was then that he considered that maybe a memory charm was for the best. He looked down at the crushed woman who now looked peaceful.

"Perhaps not willingly, but there are ways around that," Augusta said.

"You're right," Justin said after a moment. "Fine, I'll have the memory charm. How about I drive home and one of you do it there. That way I can just forget about my whole trip to the library. Make it seem like I never left home."

"Alright then," Xeno replied. "I'll go with him, you two do one last sweep of the place and I'll meet you both back at HQ when we're all done." With a nod, both the man with the bandana and Augusta disapparated, leaving Justin alone with Xeno.

"I didn't expect this," Justin admitted as he started to walk to where his car was parked.

"It is rather a nice day for something like this to have happened," Xeno replied almost jovially. "One expects the weather to be thundering or at least overcast when the Death Eaters come knocking. But then, I've always found Mother Nature to have an odd sense of humour about such things." Justin looked over his shoulder and back at the carnage and then up at the Dark Mark in the sky.

"What will happen with all of that?" he asked. Xeno shrugged.

"The Death Eaters put up Muggle-repelling charms so they won't even find it until it's too late," he replied. "The Ministry will send some people. Probably make it look like a bomb. The Muggles always draw their own conclusions."

The two didn't speak further and soon came upon Justin's car. Xeno was quite fascinated by the car, but didn't say anything. Justin suspected that he had at least some experience with cars, however, as he wasn't quite as bad as Zach was the first time he was shown a car.

"Can you give me an estimate of when you left the house?" Xeno asked, stepping into Justin's house. Justin looked at the clock.

"I left about half an hour ago," Justin said. "All of that happened in half an hour?"

"I'm afraid so," Xeno said. "Nargles are attracted to dangerous situations. They tend to make people see time differently. Are you ready?"

"Yeah, go ahead," Justin said in a resigned tone. Xeno pointed his wand at Justin's head, muttered a word that Justin couldn't hear and then promptly disapparated, leaving a perplexed Justin wondering how he got back inside from outside.

* * *

"That's pretty much it," Justin said. The other two looked at him with a strange look on their faces. "What?"

"You don't feel worried that you saw that?" Susan asked. "That sounds pretty …"

"Traumatising?" Zach suggested and Susan nodded.

"Well, it doesn't feel too bad right now," Justin said. "I mean, it was years ago."

"But it's like you're only just now experiencing it," Susan said worriedly.

"It's more like I'm just remembering something long-forgotten," Justin said. "It doesn't feel new."

"As long as you're sure," Zach said with an uncertain smile.

"What was the date?" Susan asked suddenly.

"Uh …" Justin thought hard. "Sometime in December 1999. First half probably. I spent the second half mostly having dinner at my parents' rather than here."

"So around the time that Augusta was caught," Susan said quietly. "And they did say that they found her at a Muggle library." A silence followed as they all realised what that meant.

"You were with Augusta, Susan," Justin said after a few moments. "Do you know who the man with them was? The one I said had a bandana and a sword, that is."

"No, I can't say that I do," Susan replied. "You didn't recognise him?"

"No, his face was almost completely covered and his voice distorted," Justin said. "I mean, there was the moment he was talking to that Muggle woman. His voice sounded kind of familiar, but I can't remember it well enough to say for sure who it reminded me of. Just who the hell is he?"

"Does it really matter who he is?" Zach asked. Justin and Susan nodded together.

"He had to hide his identity," Susan said. "He has to be high up on You-Know-Who's list to kill."

"Either that or people think he's dead," Justin put in. "Either way, I feel like one of us would have heard about it if he was caught. He seems to be important enough."

"Maybe we should keep on the lookout," Susan said. "With Augusta and Xeno dead, he might be the only one capable of doing anything against the Ministry."

"Exactly," Justin said. "And I won't let myself make the mistake again. This time I want to help. I have better reasons now."


	18. Something Worth Fighting For

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 18**_

_**Something Worth Fighting For**_

"_You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality."  
_\- Ayn Rand

_**Angelina Johnson**_

_**29th December, 2003**_

Angelina was having a strangely emotional Christmas break. According to the testimonies of teachers that had been in the profession longer than she had, the break was supposed to be enjoyable. It turned out that Angelina was feeling almost the opposite. In fact, she was actually missing going into work each day and seeing her class. She missed seeing their faces when she taught them something they liked. She even missed the frustration that came along with having a lot of ten year olds in one room for a long period of time.

At first she thought that it was because she was a new teacher and that this feeling might lessen as the years go on. When she talked to the older teachers in the Staff Room, most of them seemed to be much more cynical about teaching and, in fact, students in general. One particularly old man who had to be nearing his eighties, had been teaching for nearly 60 years. He was a lot more cynical than the rest. It also so happened that he wasn't exactly well-liked among the kids, so maybe that had to do with it.

Angelina soon dismissed this idea after talking with another teacher who was doing her first year as well. She had told Angelina that she was thoroughly enjoying relaxing in her home with her fiancé and that she actually dreaded having to go back to work. Angelina had drawn from that discussion that it was perhaps not her age or experience that led her to feel this way. In truth, she couldn't work it out.

This feeling was mingled with a feeling of shock and loss after the events of Christmas Day four days previously. Angelina, Alicia and Katie had all been at Grimmauld Place when they were told by Alphonse Delacour that Fleur had been killed at Beauxbatons. Despite Angelina not having known Fleur all that long, it was still a blow to her.

Though Angelina had not had a lot of time to get to know her, she had come to like Fleur in a way that she never had during the Triwizard Tournament. In those days, Angelina had seen Fleur as a threat to herself, either originally when she had hoped to be the Hogwarts Champion and then later on when it became apparent that Fleur was seemingly too gorgeous for her own good. Her younger self could not have been more wrong about her assessment of Fleur Delacour as a snobby, beautiful woman who could, and did, have whatever she wanted. Fleur Weasley was a woman who would do anything and everything for those that she loved, and it showed. She was a wonderful mother and wife, and perhaps an even better friend.

Angelina realised, as a result of Fleur's death, that she had been away from the magical world for too long. She had gotten used to the relative safety and security that she had discovered in the Muggle world. She had forgotten just what the costs were to be involved in the conflict against You-Know-Who, and she noticed that rediscovering these costs didn't actually lessen her resolve to get back into the fight. If anything, her resolve had been strengthened. It was just unfortunate that it took a werewolf bite and Voldemort attacking a school for it to fully happen.

"How was your Christmas?" Angelina asked as Wendy, Robert and Matt walked into her house. Alicia and Katie were both away for work things, so Angelina decided that lunch with the Fogarty's was as good a way as any to pass the time. Ever since Greyback's attack, Angelina and her friends had gotten much closer to the Fogarty's, which was probably for the best since they weren't particularly close to anyone else who lived nearby.

"It was great!" Matt said extremely enthusiastically.

"We just spent it at home mostly," Robert said with decidedly less enthusiasm than his son. "We don't really have all that much of a family to speak of, unfortunately. My mother died a few years ago and my father has dementia and is worsening by the day."

"And my mother is god knows where," Wendy said, bitterness seeping into her usually calm and sweet voice. "I haven't seen her in fifteen years. My father was killed in action."

"I see," Angelina replied, not entirely sure what to say to that. "I suppose I can kind of relate. My father died when I was young and my mother was killed by this last War against You-Know-Who."

"Speaking of that wonderful world of yours," Robert said, his face hard to read. "How goes things?"

Angelina had not spoken to the Fogarty's since Christmas Eve, so they didn't know about what had occurred on Christmas Day in France. In truth, Angelina didn't entirely want to tell them what had happened as Wendy and Robert were already on edge about the magical world that their son was being thrust into.

"Not great," Angelina finally said, sitting at the table with the other three who were looking on expectantly. "You-Know-Who attacked Beauxbatons School of Magic in France and, because of that, has taken the Ministry there, or at least it seems that way. Fleur Weasley was there during the attack and she was killed by You-Know-Who personally."

"Fleur as in the French woman we met?" Wendy asked, shocked. Angelina nodded. "That's terrible!"

"Why was she there?" Robert asked.

"She and Bill went to visit the school because Fleur went there," Angelina explained. "She was close with the Headmistress. It was just bad timing. Bill managed to get out unscathed."

"Bill must be devastated," Wendy said sadly.

"He is," Angelina agreed. "I've been back to Number Twelve a couple of times. He's in a pretty bad state. It's a damn good thing that he has everyone else there."

"How can you even think about getting back into that?" Robert asked, not unkindly.

"I've asked myself that sometimes," Angelina admitted. "The truth is, I feel like I have to. Before, I was simply content to go on being a teacher and living my life in this world, but that was before I knew that there were others. Now I know that there is some hope, I feel like it's my duty to those we have lost to take the fight to the Ministry and beat them into submission." Angelina saw that Matt was looking at her with a look of admiration. His parents weren't convinced, however.

"Even if it means your own life?" Robert asked seriously. "Would you really throw it away?"

"I don't see it as my life being thrown away," Angelina replied hotly. "If I did see it that way, then I would also be forced to see the deaths of many people that I love and respect in the same way, which is wrong. In that Final Battle at Hogwarts, I lost so many people. I lost the man that I loved more than anything in the world because You-Know-Who was trying to get just what he has right now. They fought and died for what they believed in, and I owe it to all of them to continue the fight. My life is no more important than theirs is. If I die for this cause, at least I will die for something I believe in. Something that's right."

"And this is the world our Matt is going to be forced into?" Wendy asked after a few seconds of silence. "A world full of war, destruction and death? How can you defend that?"

"Mum, I want to!" Matt said loudly, but Angelina cut him off before he could say anything else.

"I can't defend it," Angelina said simply. "If Matt doesn't learn to utilise his magic in the right way, he'll die. Simple as that. If we do what we plan to do, Matt won't ever be in the line of fire and that's the way we want it. I grew up in peace and was only seventeen when the Second War truly began. I, and I assure you everyone else involved, doesn't want your son growing up being involved in this."

"How can you be so sure?" Wendy asked, her voice almost cracking. "How can you say with certainty that Matt won't be dragged into it?"

"I never did say that," Angelina pointed out. "All I said was that we would try our best so that it doesn't happen. This is not Matt's fight. It was never meant to be Matt's fight. We will do our best to make sure that it stays that way."

"But it's not certain?" Robert asked.

"No," Angelina said. "But if it does happen, you can rest assured that I will defend him in any way that I possibly can. The others will too."

"I can take care of myself," Matt insisted.

"No you can't," Angelina said seriously. "You absolutely can't."

"Yes I can!" Matt said loudly. "I can deal with bullies." Angelina decided to do something and pulled her wand out as quickly as she could and pointed it at Matt.

"_Caesitium_," she said quickly. A blue jolt struck Matt painlessly and the boy's skin turned a deep shade of blue.

"What was that?" Wendy demanded as Angelina pocketed her wand.

"I was proving my point. Don't worry, it isn't permanent. It should go away in a few minutes," Angelina replied, turning to Matt who was examining his hand. "If I had been a Death Eater, you would be dead right now. Or worse."

"Worse?" Matt asked, looking up from his hand. His eyes betrayed the worry.

"Yes, worse," Angelina said. "That is a simple colouring charm and you couldn't defend against it. So, no, you can't defend yourself. Not against magic."

"Would they really kill a defenceless child?" Wendy asked. Angelina nodded.

"When they attacked Beauxbatons, there were close to 800 students at the school, ranging between the ages of eleven and eighteen," she said, turning back to Wendy and Robert as Matt continued to look on in awe at his skin. "There were, from what I have read, close to seventy casualties, most of those were between the ages of eleven and fourteen. Not to mention You-Know-Who tried to kill Harry Potter when he was only one year old."

"A one year old boy?" Wendy asked, scandalised. "What danger could a baby pose?"

"Evidently a large one," Angelina said with a laugh. "And not just when he was one either. He spent his whole life defying You-Know-Who." Angelina then spent some time detailing what she knew about Harry and his adventures. Luckily, after this conversation there was a turn to more pleasant things. Angelina then served lunch to her guests and Matt regaled Angelina with the story about his amazing Christmas and all the presents he got.

Before Wendy, Robert and Matt left, Wendy pulled Angelina aside.

"Do you really think that we're all in danger?" she asked. Angelina nodded.

"I think so, yes," she admitted. "It is very rare that Fenrir Greyback is denied a kill, so he won't forget it. I don't think that You-Know-Who much cares about you at all, but Greyback will be angry about this."

"The others have said that we should move again," Wendy said quietly. "We just can't. Not now."

"Look, I know this is frightening," Angelina said softly. "This is the worst possible time for anyone to have a child with magical abilities. Our world is nothing short of evil. Matt will be safe in our hands. I trust those at Grimmauld Place with my life, which says a lot because I'm actually doing that even now. Matt will be in the best care possible when he starts his magical education. Until then, we have to hope that You-Know-Who stops Greyback from attempting to get some revenge. Even if he does, the wards around your house will bring the others right to your house. It's not perfect, I know, but it's the best we can offer you."

"But something could still happen to us?" Wendy asked, wringing her hands before letting them idly stroke her stomach, reminding Angelina that Wendy was expecting her second child.

"Yes," Angelina said simply. "I wouldn't call it likely, but you're on You-Know-Who's radar at the very least. He knows you exist which is more than can be said for most Muggles."

"And you'll keep Matt safe?" Wendy asked.

"Of course," Angelina said as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. And to her surprise, she found that it was.

Later that afternoon, Angelina was feeling bored and wasn't remotely interested in the soap opera playing on her television screen, so she decided that it might be best to visit Number Twelve. Katie and Alicia were still not home, so she scribbled a quick note and then left through the fireplace.

When she appeared at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, she found Luna and Hermione sitting in the living room with the television on a news program, though the sound was low. Luna had Louis in her arms and Hermione was playing with Victoire. Angelina was pleased to see that the two children were faring okay without their mother.

"Hello Angelina," Luna said without even turning around. "Are Katie and Alicia coming too?"

"No," Angelina replied, sitting next to Hermione. She jumped as Victoire ran over and jumped onto her lap. "They're busy today."

"How is everything?" Hermione asked, leaning back into the couch, seemingly relieved that Victoire had found someone new to play with. Angelina looked at the girl who looked so much like a young Fleur.

"Go and get a toy and I'll play," she said and the girl's face lit up. She climbed down and scrambled off to find something. Angelina smiled and turned to Hermione. "Everything seems to be going okay. I'm a bit bored since I don't have work at the moment. How are things around here?"

"Dismal," Hermione said simply. "Bill rarely leaves his room and when he does it's just to check up on Victoire and Louis. And when I see him look at Victoire … well, he sees so much of Fleur in her. He always has. We're all very worried about him. Ginny has been staying close to him recently. Charlie's been a bit better."

"What about you two?" Angelina asked, looking at Luna as well. Louis was sleeping in her arms and didn't seem to be waking up any time soon. Angelina figured that he got that from the Weasley side of the family. "How are _you_?"

"We loved Fleur," Luna said, finally looking at Angelina. Angelina thought that she could see something in her eyes. Guilt, perhaps. "For the longest time, there were only six of us together, and we became a family. Fleur was a sister to me. I'm okay though. There is only so much a person can grieve. I grieved my mother for years on end. It's not productive."

"I think I'm okay," Hermione said after a short silence. "I feel the same way as Luna, grieving isn't productive. I completely understand Bill's grief, but I feel like I need to put it aside. There's more to it. The loss of Fleur, especially after so long, hit us hard, but it looks like Bill and Ginny were the worst hit. If they are going to be out of action for the time being, someone has to be there for the kids. As much as we like Kreacher, he's not great with kids."

"I'm glad you're taking it well," Angelina said carefully. "Where _is_ Charlie, by the way?"

"He's out getting groceries," Hermione said. "I was going to go, but he said he needed to get out of the house. I don't blame him. It's been quite gloomy around here."

"Has there been a funeral?" Angelina asked. Hermione and Luna stiffened and Angelina immediately sensed that there was something she was missing.

"There wasn't a body," Luna said, her voice low as Victoire re-entered the room.

"You-Know-Who took her body and Madame Maxime's back to the Ministry, burned them alive and dumped them over the French Ministry," Hermione said, her voice venomous. Angelina was well aware that it wasn't aimed at her. The image sickened her, but it didn't surprise her in the slightest. "France yielded after that. There has been a new French Minister installed. Antonin Dolohov. He's the only marked Death Eater who can speak French fluently, so he got the position."

"Are the Delacours okay?" Angelina asked and Victoire looked up at her. The two year old had bought out what appeared to be two Muggle dolls. Instead of playing with Angelina, she decided to just play on the floor.

"They have been under a Fidelius for years now," Hermione explained. "Very few people know where they live, so they should be safe. Alphonse and Apolline visited a few days ago to make sure everyone was okay. They said that they are also housing some of the survivors from the attack at Beauxbatons. Their home is quite large, so they have room for at least twenty others, and Bill got twelve to them from the attack, but eight left not long after. Gabrielle's boyfriend, Isaac, was among those who stayed. Alphonse told us that Isaac said that Bill specifically got him there."

"As long as they're safe," Angelina said with a sigh. "It's good of them to take the kids in."

"Yes, it is," Hermione agreed. "Of course, the state of the Ministry isn't so bad that they have to. In truth, it seems like France is really just going to continue as it was, just with You-Know-Who's agenda stuffed in there. Those who speak out against it will be killed, but if people are quiet, their lives shouldn't change. Of the four that stayed with the Delacours, one was a twelve year old Muggle-born orphan and she had nowhere else to go. One found out that his parents had been killed after defying the new Ministry right away. The other two are brother and sister, and their parents were teachers at the school."

"Damn," Angelina breathed. "I guess it's a good thing that it's not changing too much, but I feel so much for those kids."

"So do I," Luna said and Hermione nodded.

"We talked about possibly helping," Hermione said. "Well, I say 'we', but it was really just Luna, Charlie and me. It isn't like we don't have the room. We just have more important things to think about right now. Now we have much more of a reason to take down the Ministry. Not that we needed it, but this was the boost we needed."

"We'll wait until Bill's back with us and then we're going to take it to the Ministry," Luna said fervently, but quietly as Louis was still asleep. "We're going to take it all back."

Angelina had not known much about Luna Lovegood at Hogwarts, but she could not ever remember the girl speaking in that way. In fact, Angelina was certain that she had never heard Luna speak with such conviction. Such purpose. She couldn't work out why, or perhaps how, Luna had changed. She simply had, and there was nothing to it. Angelina simply nodded.

"Have you heard from Draco?" Angelina asked suddenly.

"Only once," Hermione responded. "He came over yesterday and told us about a guy called Hugo Brantell. According to Draco, Brantell has already helped in the fight against You-Know-Who. He didn't tell us much, but it seems that Draco talked Brantell into using his empathic abilities to create a list of people who would be most likely to aide us in the fight. Draco said that Brantell was still making adjustments to the list under the guise of journalism, but that he would have it soon."

"That's huge," Angelina said excitedly. "So we could have more help than we know."

"If we can trust this Brantell guy," Hermione said flatly. "I'm still getting used to the idea of trusting Draco Malfoy, so it's a bit difficult to trust someone he trusts."

"I've met Hugo before," Luna said, back to the Luna that Angelina was more familiar with. "He did some articles for _The Quibbler_. Only a few, and they were never very interesting. Always about political stuff, but never anything about Fudge's Goblin munching or even the Rotfang. He's a good person despite that. Also, his abilities are usually quite spot on."

"Realistically, we kind of have to trust him," Hermione said. "Luna already does, as you can see. I think Brantell is our only hope at the moment, and that means we have to go out on a limb here. Draco actually knew that we would feel this way and told us that he would be the only person who interacts with Brantell until such a time that we deem him trustworthy. Truthfully, I wish Bill was back to his old self. He would know what to think."

"Give him time," Angelina said softly. "He'll come around eventually."

All of them heard the front door open, but only Angelina seemed to be surprised by it.

"Only me," Charlie said loudly, his voice echoing off the cavernous walls. Hermione looked back over at Angelina.

"I truly hope so," she said. "We really do need him."

"Hi Angelina," Charlie said with a smile. Kreacher appeared with a crack, which caused Louis to awaken and start crying. Luna pulled the boy closer to her and started murmuring to him.

"Kreacher will put those away," the House Elf declared, looking at the shrunken bags in Charlie's hands.

"Remember to unshrink them," Charlie said. Kreacher nodded and snatched the bags not unkindly out of Charlie's hands and disappeared into the kitchen.

"The others busy?" Charlie asked. Angelina nodded. "Ah, fair enough. What've you lot been talking about?"

"Hermione and Luna have been catching me up on things," Angelina explained.

"Makes sense," Charlie said. "So you've heard everything then?"

"We've told her everything," Hermione said as Charlie kissed her on the cheek. "We were just discussing Hugo Brantell."

Charlie then proceeded to give his opinions on the topics, which rarely differed from Hermione's opinions. Charlie was, however, more inclined to trust Brantell and Draco than Hermione, though not by much. Angelina was still digesting everything that she had been told, but thought that they would be stupid not to trust them. While she didn't much like Draco Malfoy for how he was in the past, she couldn't help but notice the changes in him.

After half an hour of discussion, Angelina decided to head back home. Katie and Alicia were both due back even before she had left to Grimmauld Place, so she thought it best to go back. She said her goodbyes and told them all that she was thinking about Bill. Before she left, she noticed how quiet Victoire had been. She didn't have a great deal of experience with children, but she thought that two year olds were supposed to be rather loud and boisterous.

When she walked out of the fireplace into her house, she found Katie watching television and Alicia in the kitchen cooking something as it was her turn to do dinner.

"Rough day?" Angelina asked Katie, who looked quite run-down and tired.

"You could say that, yeah," she said ruefully. "I don't know why, but today was busy. It's a Monday! It's not meant to be like this."

"School holidays," Angelina said. "Even the parents need a break."

"Yeah well, so do I," Katie said angrily. "One bad fight, one creepy old man hitting on me and little kids everywhere. I hate school holidays."

"Why didn't you come to Number Twelve?" Angelina asked. Katie's eyes flickered to the kitchen where Alicia was working.

"I just wanted to rest," Katie said. Angelina could tell it was a truthful answer, but she also knew that there was something that Katie was leaving out.

"Okay," Angelina said, looking at the television in time to see the advertisements finish and Katie's soap opera start again. "I'll leave you be."

"Thanks," Katie said absently, watching the television screen. Angelina shook her head and walked into the kitchen.

"Hey Angie," Alicia said. She wasn't particularly busy, so she turned to face Angelina. "How was your day? You had lunch with Wendy and Robert, didn't you?"

"And Matt," Angelina said with a nod. "That went well. I think I managed to convince Wendy, at least, about the danger they might be in. Robert's more stubborn and Matt thinks he's invincible."

"Yeah, well they _are _in danger," Alicia said with a tinge of anger in her voice. "We all are. They should have better sense."

"They're just new to this," Angelina pointed out. "Give them some time and they'll see everything clearly."

"They're endangering lives," Alicia said angrily. "They need to leave. Move somewhere safe. Greyback won't hesitate to hunt them down, we know this. Damn it all, _we_ should leave!"

"What are you talking about?" Angelina asked sharply.

"What are we doing Angie?" Alicia said with a sigh. "We've lived here for five years and we're safe. Why should we get involved again?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," Angelina said. "Do you really want You-Know-Who to have control of magical world?"

"Do _you_ really think we can do anything about it?" Alicia shot back. "He managed to kill Fleur, and she wasn't even fighting back then! She was visiting her old school. If we fight back, we'll end up dead too! We should just get as far away from it all as possible and live out the rest of our lives as we planned to."

"Knowing that we could have done something to change it?" Angelina asked, shocked at what she was hearing Alicia say. "Knowing that we didn't stop him when we could?"

"We _can't _stop him!" Alicia yelled. "He's killed everyone who could have stopped him! Dumbledore died at his command. Harry died at his hand. Those prepared to fight back died as well, either at his hand or his command. Don't you get it, Angie? If we join that fight, we may as well be walking corpses."

"Better that then living and knowing that we stood by and did nothing as Voldemort took over the world," Angelina said viciously. At that moment Katie entered into the kitchen, likely having heard the arguing.

"The world?" Katie asked. "What makes you think that?"

"He's taken France," Angelina told her friends, specifically Alicia. "He took Fleur and Maxime's bodies to the Ministry, burned them and sprinkled the ashes all over the French Ministry. France gave in and now Antonin Dolohov is the new French Minister for Magic."

"Even more reason," Alicia said. "He can do that. What makes us think we can do anything to harm him?"

Angelina slapped Alicia hard across the face with her right hand, causing Katie to gasp loudly.

"I didn't realise you were so heartless," Angelina growled, her anger suddenly overwhelming her. Alicia was looking at her with a shocked and frightened look, rubbing the side of her face which was starting to redden. "You would sit by and watch the world burn so long as you can feel comfortable writing some stories for oblivious Muggles who will never know the loss that we've known? You would stand back as some psycho madman murders innocents in a quest for power that will never, ever be sated? You would leave what few friends we still have in that world to live under his rule or die just because you're too afraid to stand up for them and for yourself?

"Is it a losing battle?" Angelina asked. "Yeah, it probably is. But we owe it to those who lost their lives because of this psychopath to keep fighting until the moment that monster's heart ceases to beat in his chest and he draws his final breath. We owe it to our parents, for Merlin's sake. My mother died at the hands of Death Eaters. So did your parents, Alicia, or do you happen to forget that?"

"Angie," Katie said quietly, putting her hand on Angelina's arm, but she shook it off.

"Don't you dare bring –" Alicia started but was cut off by Angelina.

"Oh, I'll dare," she said angrily. "If the truth hurts, well that's not my fault is it? You have the audacity to stand there are tell me you want to run away? Fine, if you want to run away, go ahead. I won't stop you. You can try your hardest to sit around and completely avoid the reality of the situation. The problem is just that, though. It's still reality! Ignoring something doesn't make it go away. Fighting back does. Of course, if you think that it's below you to do that, find some solace in your little writing job and hope to hell that when You-Know-Who actually takes over the world that he will ignore a journalist. We all know that he won't, though. One day he'll find you and he'll kill you with hardly a thought. Don't even _think_ that he won't. At least have the guts to give him a reason to kill you other than existing!

"Bury your head in the sand if you like," Angelina said, her anger still firmly in her, but slowly starting to abate. "I'm not going to be such a coward as that. I'm going to fight back! Not for myself. I'm going to fight for the people who have already died, those who will die and those who will live in a peaceful world because of my actions. If I die, so be it! At least I will be able to rest peacefully in the knowledge that I did the right thing. My life is not so important to me that I will sit back and allow innocents to just die."

With that, Angelina turned and strode angrily out of the kitchen, giving Katie only a cursory glance as she did so, not failing to notice the shocked look on her face. Angelina walked straight to her room and slammed the door. She fell onto her soft bed, buried her head in the pillows and, for the first time in quite a long time, she cried.

_Am I really doing the right thing?_ she wondered hours later, looking up at the ceiling, her eyes red and puffy. Angelina only had to think of one thing to tell her that she was.

For a moment, Angelina was back in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, her head resting on Fred Weasley's shoulder as soft music played in the background and artificial snow fell from the enchanted ceiling to land on her and Fred's entwined bodies while they danced together at the Yule Ball. Very few couples remained in the Hall, as it was extremely late. Angelina looked at Fred for a moment, not seeing one half of the Weasley twins, prankster extraordinaires, but simply looking into the face of love. Neither she nor Fred had realised it at the time, but they had fallen for each other that night.

The war had torn them apart, as it had so many others. Fred died while defying You-Know-Who. It was the thought of the Yule Ball that made Angelina absolutely certain that she was doing the right thing. She knew with absolute certainty what her vision of the future was, and it was those two.

Two teenagers unafraid of the future, enjoying their time together without the threat of war, death and destruction looming over them. Falling in love.


	19. Stages of Grief

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 19**_

_**Stages of Grief**_

"_Go your way.  
I'll take the long way 'round.  
I'll find my own way down,  
As I should._

_And hold your gaze.  
There's coke in the Midas touch.  
A joke in the way that we rust,  
And breathe again._

_And you'll find loss.  
And you'll fear what you found,  
When weather comes,  
Tearing down._

_There'll be oats in the water.  
There'll be birds on the ground.  
There'll be things you never asked her.  
Oh, how they tear at you now._"  
\- "Oats in the Water" by Ben Howard

* * *

**Author's Note**

Just thought I should say right now that I didn't want to use all of that for the quote, but I think it's genuinely necessary. As I won't add it to the disclaimer, I don't own "Oats in the Water", but I do encourage people to listen to it, as it's really quite good.

On with the chapter.

* * *

_**Bill Weasley**_

_**[Date Unknown]**_

Bill watched with a silly grin on his face as his soon to be wife walked slowly, her arm linked with her father's, down the aisle towards where he was standing together with Charlie next to him. He couldn't remember ever having seen anything quite so beautiful as Fleur in that moment, and he wished that it would never end.

He had eyes for no one else except for the love of his life, and it showed on his scarred, mangled face. When Fleur caught his eye finally, he feared for a moment that she would flinch away from him like he was some kind of monster, but she never did. All she did was look at him, her wonderful blue eyes shining in a way that he had never seen before with a smile playing on her lips. There was no indication that Bill could see that she was apprehensive at all, and that made him swell up. He had not felt any hesitation whatsoever himself. He just wanted her to be his wife regardless, and perhaps because of, the situation at the time.

It seemed a lifetime before Fleur made it to the end of the aisle. Her father leaned over to her and kissed her on the cheek before glancing towards Bill with what he could see as approval. As her father sat down, Fleur approached Bill and reached out, brushing his arm.

There was a sudden noise as someone in the crowd stood up abruptly and started speaking in a high, shockingly cold voice.

"William, was it?" the voice asked as Bill and Fleur, together, turned to the speaker. Bill drew in a breath when he saw Harry Potter standing, his eyes blazing a deep red. "Enjoy it while it lasts, William. Of course, one can only enjoy a half-breed for so long before it needs to be put out of its sickening, arduous and painful misery."

As Harry spoke, his face slowly morphed into something else. His hair receded into his skull, his eyes narrowed into nothing more than slits and his nose flattened into nothingness. Blue veins formed in the skin covering his skull and when he smiled, the teeth were yellow and almost sharp.

Bill wanted to do something, but he was completely unable to move. As he looked out into the crowd of people, he couldn't help but try to call out for them to attack the monstrosity that once was Harry. They did nothing, all wearing the same expressions they had before, as if nothing more terrifying than two people in love getting married was happening in the tent.

Bill felt Fleur grasp his forearm.

"Bill," she whispered frantically. "What ees wrong? You look frightened."

"Love," Voldemort spat, looking at Fleur.

"Bill?" Fleur asked, her voice so pained that it made Bill want to weep. He could do nothing.

"_Avada Kedavra_!"

The green bolt of death shot at Fleur, dosing the wedding guests in eerie green light as it flew past, ruffling their hair. When the curse hit Fleur, Bill felt her grip on his forearm slacken as she fell to the ground.

Bill awakened in a cold sweat to find the room around him dark and unfamiliar. He reached out across the bed, but found nothing. For one moment of pure blissful ignorance, Bill assumed that Fleur was with Louis. He was only a baby, after all.

Then, like an avalanche, it hit him again.

Bill had lost track of just how many times it had hit him at this point, or perhaps it was just that he failed to care. He once again felt the tears coming to his eyes as he remembered the announcement that the few remaining human beings at Beauxbatons had heard.

"_Beauxbatons belongs to the Dark Lord_," the high, cruel voice belonging to Voldemort himself had said, magnified by magic. Bill had managed to help some of the Beauxbatons Professors get most of the remaining students away from the school. There had been only he, four teachers and Alphonse Delacour remaining. Alphonse had come when one of the students sent to his home by Bill had informed him of what happened. "_The two symbols of the school are dead. Madame Olympe Maxime, the beastly half-giant who ruled as Headmistress for far too long has perished at my hand. As has former Triwzard Champion, and half-breed, Fleur Delacour. France will yield._"

Voldemort's voice echoed in the caverns of Bill's mind, echoing mostly upon the name of his wife.

_Weasley_, Bill said in his mind as the voice of Voldemort continued to taunt him. _She took my name. She is my wife. The love of my life._

Bill stared up at the ceiling with a blank look on his face. He had done this more times than he cared to count. As he stared, he thought and as he thought, he thought about Fleur. The primary thought was about his guilt. No matter what, his thoughts always made their way in the direction of guilt.

Bill primarily blamed himself for separating from her at Beauxbatons. He knew that it had been her suggestion, but he couldn't help but feel as though he should have protested more. That he should have gone with her. That she should have gone with him. That they should have swapped roles. Anything but the way it worked out.

Bill had only spoken to Gabrielle for a short time after the attack. Alphonse had apparated them to his home after the announcement and Gabrielle told him what Fleur had done. As soon as Fleur sent her off, Gabrielle used the Floo to get back home. If Gabrielle was to be believed, she had not gone far away from Maxime's office and he could have easily found her.

Bill went through dozens of scenarios in his mind where Fleur had gotten out of Beauxbatons alive and with each one, the crushing feeling of guilt fell upon him, pressing him deeper and deeper into the ground below. There were times that Bill's rational side reared its head and Bill felt as though he was punishing himself for something that was out of his control, but that rational side was almost always squashed immediately by another flood of guilt crashing upon him.

Bill's life was entirely bleak and devoid of anything that could potentially resemble happiness or joy. Occasionally the other residents of Number Twelve would try to help him through it. Charlie tried to lure him out of his room to watch television or would bring a pack of Exploding Snap cards to his room. Bill loved his brother dearly, but he didn't much want to see him. Hermione tried to talk to him about it. She tried to get him to open up about Fleur and what he was feeling. Bill rarely said so much as a word to her. He felt bad for doing so, but he couldn't talk about it yet. Luna didn't do much. Whenever she did happen to enter the room, she sat down next to him and didn't utter a word. She just looked wherever he happened to be looking at the time.

In truth, it was Ginny who helped him the most, which wasn't entirely surprising to him. Bill had always treated Ginny with a great deal of reverence. He had been nine when Ginny was born, almost ten. For a year he helped his parents with her and became almost a second father to her in that time. When he went off to Hogwarts when she was just one year old, he missed her more than anyone else in his family. Whenever he was at home, be it at Christmas or for the summer, he tried his best to look after his sister. When he graduated, she was only eight. Bill had stayed at home for some time before moving to Egypt and when he did, he and Ginny had become close. He was always there for her, just as she was there for him now.

Every now and then, Bill couldn't really tell how often, Ginny entered into his room with a plate of food. She sat the plate on the table and sat on the bed next to him. She reached over and hugged him. When they were young, Bill had hugged her whenever she got hurt and she would always cling to him as if she never wanted to let go. This time, it was Bill clinging to her as the tears ran down his face in earnest. She rarely said anything, and just let him grieve. For that, Bill was grateful.

When he had awoken after Alphonse stunned him, he was back at Number Twelve, surrounded by Ginny, Charlie, Luna and Hermione. He looked at them for only a moment before standing straight up, reaching out and picking up one of the books Hermione always had close to hand and hurling it straight at a mirror which shattered into dozens of pieces. He had kicked at the furniture around him, punched the wall and even almost choked Kreacher to death when he dared to ask where Fleur was. It was only Charlie who could stop him, and Bill resented, for probably the first time, how much stronger physically his younger brother was. Bill aimed a punch at Charlie's face, but he had ducked out of the way and Bill hit nothing but air. Bill had screamed then.

It was only after that incident that he thought to ask where his children were. When Hermione told him they were in their rooms, Bill immediately went in to check that they were safe and that no monster was attacking them. Louis was closer and was sound asleep, peaceful like his mother was still alive.

When Bill looked in on Victoire, he had found a similar situation, but broke down almost immediately when he recognised just how much his daughter looked like Fleur. He wept so loud that the girl had woken up. She wasn't crying, she just looked confused.

Someone had taken him upstairs. He didn't know who it was, but suspected Ginny. He rarely left the room except to check on his children, a process which he was beginning to think he would never be able to do without breaking down. Victoire looked too much like Fleur and all it did was remind him of the price that his wife had paid for his negligence and stupidity. Despite all the anger, resentment and guilt that was running rampant through his mind, Bill was as pleased as he could possibly be that he had people around him who could look after his children.

Bill had been in and out of sleep for what seemed like days, but could easily have been weeks. He couldn't quite tell. All he seemed to do was sleep, think and occasionally eat, and yet it was all he could do. His bed reminded him of Fleur, which was both a blessing and a curse. Occasionally he would pick up her pillow and smell it. Her hair had always smelled of wildflowers, without fail, and that smell had stayed on the pillow, but it was beginning to fade.

Suddenly, as Bill was staring at the space on the bed where Fleur was meant to be, his door opened with a creak. He looked around, hoping to see Ginny. Instead, he saw Draco Malfoy walk in, followed by Hermione and Charlie, both with worried looks on their faces.

Suddenly and irrationally, Bill's eyes fixed on Malfoy's left arm where he _knew_ the Dark Mark was, and his mind seemed to go into overdrive.

"You have the gall to enter this room?" he snarled at Malfoy who looked on, his face expressionless.

"See, I told you it won't work," Hermione said, attempting to pull Malfoy back out through the door as Bill stood up from the bed, standing over Malfoy. "You should have just given it to me or Charlie."

"I'm not going to give it to just anyone," Malfoy said, looking back at Hermione for a second.

"You let a _Death Eater_ into this house?" Bill asked, glaring at Charlie. Charlie, to his credit, didn't back down and met his brother's eyes.

"No," he replied smoothly. "I let Draco into this house."

"He's a Death Eater," Bill growled, eying again Malfoy's left arm. Malfoy even managed to look offended.

"Look, you know as well as I do that –" Charlie began, but stopped when Malfoy touched his arm.

"You lay your filthy hands off my brother," Bill snapped and punched Malfoy, who fell backwards against the wall. Bill pulled his hand back to him as pain rushed through it. Malfoy stood up straight after a few moments, a trickle of blood running from his mouth. His eyes were blazing as he quickly ripped up the sleeve of the sweater that he was wearing.

"_This_," Malfoy snapped at Bill, "is nothing more than a mark made up by a madman so that they could show off their loyalty to him. But it's more than that. It enslaves people. Every time he wants people to meet with him, he makes these marks burn. They burn like fire and the only way to quell that fire is either to go to the Dark Lord or until he makes it stop. Do you know what that's like, especially now that he doesn't have _need_ of the 'young ones'? He calls people and it burns for a long time. It burns until those who serve him show up. Just two days ago, it burned for fifteen minutes non-stop and it felt like the flesh of my arm should have been melting off my bones. That feeling sickens me, but it does not enslave me. Not anymore.

"I am not my father," Malfoy said as Bill listened uncaringly. "I will not be controlled by the Dark Lord. I am no more a Death Eater any more than you are. I don't want to be one, but I can't get rid of the Dark Mark, even if I try. I'm sorry that Fleur died. Truly, I am. If you want to go ahead and blame me, you know what? Feel free. But know who you are blaming while you do. I am no Death Eater. Not anymore."

There was a silence following this, as both Bill and Malfoy seemed to visibly calm. Bill looked into Malfoy's eyes and saw, to his horror, that he looked genuine. Bill looked into the weasel-like face of a man that he wanted so badly to hate and thrust every bad feeling at, and he realised that he couldn't. He remembered Draco when they saw him enter Number Twelve. He remembered how quickly Fleur had come to trust him. He remembered how he had trusted Fleur in that regard. He wanted to hate Draco, but he knew that Fleur wouldn't.

"Why are you here?" Bill asked finally, fighting back tears as he thought more of his wife.

"It might not seem like it to you," Draco said softly, almost comfortingly, "but in the short time I knew Fleur, I cared about her. I care about you as well. This household is all that Astoria and I have right now, and I hate that it's broken. I don't want you to suffer. You don't deserve it."

Draco reached out a fist and opened it, revealing a small stone. In it, Bill could see an inscription that he vaguely recognised.

"I was told when the Centaurs gave me this that another person would have need of this," he said as Bill looked at what he recognised to be the Resurrection Stone. "I figure that it must be you. You need this and what it can do. For now, I will give it to you. I know full well that it can be addicting, so I will have to take it back. But right now, what matters is that you use it. I sincerely hope it works."

Bill took the Resurrection Stone from Draco's hands and grasped it tight in his fist, as if it were going to turn to sand and fall through his fingers.

"We'll leave you alone," Hermione whispered. Bill watched as the three of them exited through the door, closing it behind them.

Bill sat back on the bed and opened his hand. He stared in wonder at the small stone in his hand for a long time. He was not contemplating using it, but was finding himself afraid to do so. He was both afraid that it would work and afraid that it wouldn't. He was also afraid that if it did, Fleur would not show up at all. Or that she would and would blame him entirely for everything that had happened to her. Not for the first time since Beauxbatons, Bill was unsure of how much time passed.

Bill finally sighed and clutched the Stone in his hand, feeling its sides dig into his palm. He loosened his grip, closed his eyes and turned the stone in his hands three times, imagining in his mind Fleur's face. For a few seconds, Bill feared to open his eyes. Finally, and with a Herculean effort, Bill opened his eyes.

Fleur stood in front of him, her face serene with a smile on her lips. She was as beautiful as she had ever been, and something seemed to radiate from her. Bill immediately got to his feet and ran to her. When he walked through her, he realised that it was not truly Fleur, but just something of a shade of her. He turned back to find her looking at him again. He could find no words.

"My love," she said softly. "It is so very good to see you again."

"Fleur, I'm so sorry," Bill blurted out, tears coming to his eyes once more as he looked at the woman he loved, the mother of his children and, worst of all, the woman killed because of his actions. "I didn't mean for it to happen."

Bill watched as Fleur reached out a hand to him. She reached up to his face, as if to wipe the tears away. It didn't work, but Bill realised that it was calming.

"You should not blame yourself," Fleur said softly. "My death is the fault of many people, my darling, but you are not one of them."

"If I had stopped you from going …" Bill protested, but he was no longer sobbing. Fleur shook her head, her hair flowing from side to side.

"You could not have done so," Fleur replied with a smile. "I would not have let you. Gabrielle was out there, and so was Madame Maxime. I felt obliged to help both of them, and nothing you said would ever have stopped me."

"I could have tried," Bill said quietly, barely above a whisper. Fleur nodded.

"Oui," she said. "You could have. I would then have argued until I got my way. And in the meantime, Gabrielle would have died. Better me then her."

"No," Bill said on the verge of tears again. "No it's not."

"Bill, my love," Fleur said quietly, leaning into his ear. "I know you feel this way now, but I know that you would give your life to save any one of the others in this house right now. You know that I would do the same. They are all family to me, and my life is not so important to myself compared to theirs."

"I know, but I just want you back here with me," Bill pleaded. "I can't live without you."

"Nonsense," Fleur said with a laugh like a chime in the wind. "You can go on living. You are strong and you always have been. You have people you love who need you."

"I need _you_," Bill said, tears falling down his cheeks again.

"I love you," Fleur said, leaning in and kissing Bill on the cheek. Even though he couldn't have, Bill thought he could feel it. "This world is unfamiliar to me now. It feels cold and unforgiving. Like I am somewhere I should not be. I look around and see only darkness. Where I have come from … it is a constant stream of love and nothing else. I have spent time with those I lost in your realm, and it feels oh so much more natural. However, I will stay with you if you wish me too."

"Do you want to?" Bill asked after a moment. Fleur looked around the room.

"I wish to spend every moment of my time with you," she finally said. "I simply do not wish it to be here. This world is unfamiliar to me now. So, no, I do not wish to stay here. With you? Yes. Here? No."

"I'll join you then," Bill said quickly. Fleur shook her head violently, panic falling across her face for the first time since she appeared.

"No," she said instantly. "No, you cannot."

"Why not?" Bill demanded. "You are the love of my life!"

"You could do it," Fleur said finally, seeming to calm down. "If you can stomach leaving everyone else behind. Luna. Hermione. Charlie. Ginny. Victoire and Louis. They still need you, Bill. Even if you fail to see how right now, they do. You are Louis and Victoire's father, and they need their father more than ever. The others are your family, or as close to family as it is possible to be. You are needed, and you are loved."

Bill knew immediately that Fleur was right. Everything she said was true, and it had taken her saying the words to him for him to realise it. It was almost like a slap in the face, and Bill felt ashamed that he had forgotten it, even in his grief.

"You're right," he said finally, his voice low. "Of course you are. I just … I never thought I would lose you."

"I never thought that I would leave you," Fleur replied. Bill looked into her blue eyes and saw only love. "The universe cannot be stopped, Bill, nor can it be postponed. What happens happens and nothing that you or I do can change it. So many things worked to cause my death that day, the most of all being Voldemort and the Boggarts."

"Boggarts?" Bill asked suddenly. Fleur nodded.

"Voldemort had three there and set them free in front of me," Fleur responded, still looking serene. "They morphed into the bodies of you, Victoire and Louis, the three people who I most would hate to have die. It immobilised me so much that he was able to kill you. I heard you talking to me through your earring. I was convinced you were haunting me, but I was so very pleased to learn that I was wrong."

Bill had not been intending to ask Fleur about how she died, but perhaps his wife had sensed that he needed some closure on the matter and decided to tell him what he needed to know. It was not pleasant, and yet it did make him feel better knowing how she died.

"It was painless," Fleur whispered. "The Killing Curse. He did not prolong it."

"I …" Bill faltered for a moment. "I'm glad." It was then that Fleur smirked.

"I cut off his ear," she admitted. "Nice severing charm right to it, then a flame charm so that he couldn't reattach it or grow it back. I went out fighting." Bill, for the first time in what seemed like years, laughed.

"That's my girl," he said with a true smile.

"Do you still want me to stay with you?" Fleur asked after a minute in which Bill just stared at her.

"Yes," Bill replied immediately. "Of course I want that. I have never wanted anything more in my whole life. But I won't keep you here if it is painful for you. I love you and I don't want you to ever be in pain again."

"Thank you," Fleur said, relieved. "I wish that you could never feel pain as well, but it is inevitable that you will."

"How true that is," Bill said, resignedly. He began to speak, but couldn't find the words. Fleur seemed to know what he was thinking.

"Everyone is fine," she said with a broad smile. "In fact, more than fine. Molly, Arthur, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, Harry and even Albus, Minerva, Sirius, Remus and Tonks have told me to convey their love to you. Some of them wanted to come with me to see you, but it was decided that it was best if it was just me for now. Every one of them told me that they are proud of how you have cared for everyone the way you have. Molly and Arthur told me to tell you that they are beyond proud of you, Charlie and Ginny and the way you've stuck together all these years. Harry wanted me to get you to tell Ginny that he misses her and that she should find a way to move on. He also wants Hermione to know that she's amazing. Ron wants Hermione and Charlie to know that he's happy for them. Although he did say 'that prat Charlie' when telling me." Bill laughed.

"That's Ron for you," he said. It was only now that he realised he was crying again. The tears were different now. They weren't tears of grief.

"Xenophilius Lovegood asked me to get you to convey a message to Luna," Fleur said. "Tell her that he is happy that she doesn't grieve as much anymore. He could not have been happier when he died to find out that she had been alive the whole time."

"I'll tell her," Bill promised with a smile.

"I'm afraid that there are some things that I can't tell you," Fleur said. "There are some mysteries that I cannot help you with. You don't know what these mysteries are, but you will eventually. For now, that's all I can tell you."

"It's more than enough," Bill said firmly. "It's more than I could ever have wished for."

"My love, I hope that I don't have to remain for too much longer," Fleur said suddenly. "It's feeling worse now."

"I won't keep you here then," Bill said, reaching out a worried hand and brushing where her arm should have been.

"I can stay a little while longer," Fleur said. Bill nodded and they said nothing for a few minutes as Bill just took her in for what could be the last time in life. He wished that she was real, but he knew that she wasn't. Somehow it didn't hurt him. In fact, he was feeling much better now that he had talked to her again.

"I think I'm ready," Bill said finally, truly feeling it. "I don't want to let you go, but I can now."

"Oh, my love," Fleur said, her eyes now seeming to well up with tears. "I can hardly express what you were to me. You were the one source of joy in the darkness we had to endure. You were my one true love. But should it ever happen that you find someone else, let it happen. Your happiness is all I ever want now."

"It won't happen," Bill said with certainty. "It just won't."

"I can hope so," Fleur said with a laugh. "I don't want you to spend your life grieving me. Just remember me. It's all I ask."

"Always," Bill said, reaching out to Fleur's face.

"And apologise to Draco," Fleur said with a laugh. "You can trust him. I promise."

"I will," Bill said. For a moment there was silence. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," Fleur said. Bill blinked his eyes and Fleur was gone.

There was a sullen silence as Bill did not move, expecting an avalanche of grief to fall on him at any time. It never came. Instead, a feeling akin to contentment and understanding washed over him. He stood there for only a few seconds, looking at the place where Fleur had just been standing, before walking to the bed and picking up the Resurrection Stone where he had dropped it. He eyed it in his palm for a moment and shook his head.

_Once was enough_, he thought to himself.

Bill turned and opened the door to his room and looked down the hallway. He could see no one in either direction, but could hear voices downstairs. He found the stairs and walked down them much more quickly and nimbly than he had expected to. When he got to the bottom he walked into the lounge room where he saw Charlie, Ginny, Luna, Hermione, Draco and Astoria, the first four of whom seemed to be shocked to see him downstairs. They all stood up quickly, questioning looks on their faces. Draco, Bill noticed, no longer had blood flowing from his lip.

Bill walked right to the silvery-blonde haired man who didn't back down. When he got to him, Bill pulled him into a hug that would have rivalled his own mother's. At first Draco did nothing, but reluctantly hugged him back. When Bill pulled away, he handed Draco the Resurrection Stone, a look of understanding crossing Draco's face.


	20. Mood Swings

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 20**_

_**Mood Swings**_

"_The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood._"  
\- Voltaire

_**Charlie Weasley**_

_**3rd January, 2004**_

For the first time since Christmas, Charlie could honestly say that he was feeling somewhat content and it was simply because Bill was beginning to get back to his old self again. Charlie could tell that losing Fleur had hurt his older brother irreparably and that Bill would likely never recover fully from the loss. It was in his eyes. It was comforting and encouraging, however, to see Bill up and about again. It especially pleased Charlie to see Bill interacting with his children almost as he had done before.

When Draco had shown up with the idea to utilise the Resurrection Stone in that way, Charlie had thought that it would be a great idea. It was when Draco had said that he needed to be the one to hand Bill the stone that both Charlie and Hermione had protested, not out of a lack of trust, but simply because they didn't think they could trust Bill to be around anyone affiliated with anything Death Eater-related at that time. Charlie could only remember those first few days after the Battle of Hogwarts and how the six of them had been. If he had even glimpsed a Death Eater at that time, he knew that they would have been dead in an instant. If Bill was like that, it was likely better for Draco to stay away from him. However, the blonde had stuck to his guns and insisted to go up there.

When Bill came downstairs and walked to Draco, Charlie honestly thought the worst and he felt that everyone else in the room felt the same way at the time, even Astoria. Charlie felt a surge of relief when Bill simply hugged Draco and gave him back the Resurrection Stone. Both dangers were alleviated and everything seemed to be getting better again.

"What do we do now?" Hermione asked, her hair brushing his chest as she looked up at him.

"We recuperate," Charlie said simply. "Bill still needs more time. So do Louis and Victoire. And Ginny for that matter."

"Well, when that's finished then," Hermione insisted. "What will our next move be? We have to do something."

"I guess we look over that list of Draco's," Charlie replied. "Look at people we feel comfortable trusting and tell Draco to meet with them. Make sure they do want to help."

"We need to find a way to get a hold of those lists," Hermione said fervently, as she had done so many times since Draco had told them how the Ministry were rounding up Muggle-born children and their families. "I know that it's too risky, but it really is what we should be working towards. I've been reading about Polyjuice detection, and it really is limited. It has to be performed on specific people. There isn't actually a detection ward, which I suppose makes sense because surely if there was such a thing Hogwarts would make use of it, so Bartemius Crouch wouldn't have been able to masquerade as Professor Moody like he did. Come to think of it, that also means that we wouldn't have been able to use it in Second Year like we did as well.

"Anyway, I am getting off topic," Hermione said abruptly as Charlie chuckled. He had gotten used to the tangents that Hermione went on occasionally. "The point is, if we went in under Polyjuice, the only way we can be caught is if we are actually tested. I think it might be worth the risk for us to do that if we can get those lists out of the hands of the Death Eaters. We could stop all the murders."

"You know I want to get those lists as much as you do," Charlie said soothingly. "It doesn't change the fact that it's simply too dangerous for us to do right now. If we look at that list Draco got from Brantell, we can maybe get some insiders who are in a better position to get the list themselves. That way there's less danger all around."

"And what happens in the intervening time then?" Hermione asked angrily, moving away from Charlie and sitting up in their bed. The morning sunlight was coming through a window and hitting her face now. "We just sit by and let innocent people die?"

"We've had this conversation before," Charlie said softly. "We don't have a choice."

"Of course we have a choice!" Hermione said louder than before. Charlie made a motion for her to lower her voice. They hadn't heard Louis, so he might still be asleep. Hermione continued at a lower volume. "There's always a choice, Charles." Charlie groaned.

"Oh, don't use the full name," he said exasperatedly.

"I'll call you whatever I like," Hermione said stubbornly. "We _do_ have a choice. It is not a particularly nice one, but it is a choice nonetheless. A choice between our lives and theirs."

"And what happens if we go to the Ministry, lose our lives and leave no one behind to do anything else?" Charlie asked. "People will still be killed, but for a longer time than if we bide our time and wait. Let me put it this way, Hermione. If twenty people die because we wait and end up saving hundreds, is that worse than hundreds dying because we rushed in on a fool's errand and died in the process?"

"So now I'm a fool," Hermione said angrily, standing up and wrapping a blue robe around her body.

"You know that's not what I meant," Charlie said. "I only meant that it would be foolish to try this now. I don't want more people to die, but the chances of success will be better if we get someone close to the lists to steal them. Besides, Draco said that they needed the Unspeakables to move the Hogwarts list. How do you intend on getting that list back?"

Charlie watched Hermione's face sink. It was a discussion that had occurred between the two of them several times over the last month, and every time it hurt Charlie to see Hermione this way. He could see that she genuinely cared about those people dying and the thought of not doing anything pained her. He could see it on her face.

"Harry would have tried," Hermione whispered. "He would have done it without a second thought."

"When did any of Harry's plans go as planned?" Charlie asked. "We need to make sure the chance of success is high. If there's a dragon going absolutely insane, spraying fire all over the place, the dragon handlers don't instantly go in to stop it. They wait until they know it's safer. That's what we have to do here. We just need to trust that Draco's list has some names on it that will be of help to us. Who knows? Maybe there's an Unspeakable or two on there."

Hermione was silent after that as Charlie got out of bed, walked over to her and wrapped her in a hug.

"I'd kiss you but I know you don't like my morning breath," Charlie told her. She laughed and kissed him on the cheek.

"Get in the shower," she said. "I'll check on the kids and see what Kreacher's cooking this morning."

"Not joining me today?" Charlie said with a wink. Hermione smiled.

"We'll see," she said with a smile before walking out the bedroom door.

As it turned out, Hermione didn't join him at all. When he was dressed, Charlie walked downstairs and found Hermione feeding Louis.

"He woke up when I looked in on him, so I decided to get him breakfast," Hermione explained. "Luna came down a minute ago. She's helping Kreacher with breakfast. Do you mind taking Louis while I have a shower?"

"Sure, no problem," Charlie said. It seemed that Hermione was nearly finished feeding Louis, so Charlie had little to do. When he was finished eating, Charlie carried him into the kitchen. "Morning Luna."

"Good morning Charles," Luna said dreamily as Kreacher took over her pan. Unlike with Hermione, Charlie knew that Luna using his full name was just something Luna did from time to time. Luna put a plate on the table stacked with food and reached to take Louis so Charlie could eat, something he did almost immediately. After a few minutes, Ginny walked in obviously just having woken up. Kreacher put a plate full of food on the table directly opposite Ginny who sat down.

"Morning Charlie," Ginny said sleepily.

"Hey Gin," Charlie said. He hadn't seen much of Ginny since Christmas. Certainly, he saw her more than he did Bill, but it was less than he would have liked. Unlike Bill, there wasn't one single moment when Ginny seemed to come back to herself, but she was better after Bill talked to her the day previously. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," Ginny said eating a piece of toast. "I'm feeling much better now that Bill seems okay."

"Well, that's good," Charlie said honestly, although he did feel like there was something else. "You know you can talk to us, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Ginny replied. She didn't say anything more and Charlie decided to drop the issue. As much as he loved his baby sister, he had never been one for emotional discussions. Bill had always been there for her for that. Charlie wasn't even sure that he _could_ do it. The past five years, those sort of discussions were left for Bill or Fleur.

Soon everybody was awake and eating breakfast. Victoire, even though Fleur was no longer around, was still her usual bouncy self and Bill was happy to play with her again, which Charlie was pleased to see. Before the Resurrection Stone, Bill could barely stand to look at Victoire because of her resemblance to Fleur, but now it seemed that he had mostly gotten over that. He didn't speak much about what happened with the Stone, only really saying that it worked and he talked to Fleur.

"I have something I wanted to tell you," Bill said just before midday when they were all watching something boring on television. "I should have told you yesterday, but I wanted the whole thing to be just for me for a while."

"It's okay," Luna said airily. "I'm sure we all understand." Bill smiled at her before telling everyone the messages Fleur had given him to tell them. It was a more emotional discussion than most of them were expecting.

Ginny listened as Bill said what Harry had told Fleur, her eyes not leaving Bill. Charlie, for a few seconds, thought that Ginny might break down. He had not been around very much for Ginny when she was growing up, but he could tell how she felt about Harry. In the end she nodded and smiled.

Luna's eyes lit up when Bill said that he had a message from her father. It seemed as though the greatest thing of all time had happened to her. Luna could not have been happier than in that moment.

While feeling incredible about what his parents had said, it was what Ron had said that made a difference to him. For the longest time he had felt that he was encroaching on Ron's space in some way, and it was nice to know that Ron was okay with it. It was clear that Hermione felt the same thing as she hugged Charlie much tighter.

Bill had barely finished talking when there was a sudden bang at the front wall of the house. Everyone got to their feet immediately.

"What the hell was that?" Ginny asked loudly.

"I don't know, but let's assume the worst," Bill said, giving Louis to Luna. "Take the kids to Shell Cottage. Don't come back until one of us comes to get you." Luna nodded immediately, crouching down to Victoire and whispering to her. Luna then took some Floo Powder, threw it into the flames and grabbed Victoire's hand before walking into the emerald green flames.

"Shell Cottage," Luna said and she disappeared along with the flames that had been there not long ago. There was another crash at the building which actually shook it somewhat.

"I'll go upstairs and see if I can spot what's going on," Charlie announced before bounding up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. He ran into his and Hermione's room and looked out the window. When he did, he found only three people, two of whom he recognised and the third he didn't. He recognised Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle. Hestia he remembered vividly because the first, and only, time he had met her a crush had formed and Diggle he knew because he was always one to stand out, as he still was. The third person was a tall man with thick, almost curly, brown hair. He was wearing a grey-ish coat and appeared to be the one firing curses at the building.

"It's Dedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones," Charlie reported when he came back downstairs. "And a third man I don't recognise."

"Are you sure?" Bill asked and Charlie nodded. "Could be Death Eaters under Polyjuice."

"Have Hestia and Diggle been caught?" Ginny asked, knowing the two of them from the Order of the Phoenix. "We would have heard about it, surely."

"Two Order Members?" Bill asked. "Yeah, we would have heard about it. Unless it happened in the last week and a half, we would know. Even then Draco would have told us." There was another crash.

"Even if it was Death Eaters, why would they be attacking us?" Hermione asked quickly. The blasts were getting stronger. "They don't have any reason to believe that anyone is here."

"Yaxley knows about this place being the Order's Headquarters," Bill said. "He can still give the address. They caught Fleur, so maybe they thought there might be some people still alive here. If that's true and someone scouted the place and found that they couldn't see anything, that would be suspicious."

"They could just assume it was an Order protection after Yaxley visited," Charlie put in. "They might even think Snape did it now that we know who he really worked for." There was a fourth crash at the wall which seemed to make the building creak this time.

"We need to work out what to do before they destroy the house," Ginny said urgently, more like the Ginny that Charlie remembered. "Do we approach them or run away?" There was a moment's silence and then another crash, much sooner than the last.

"Bill," Charlie said suddenly, "you go to Shell Cottage. If something bad happens here, it's no good Victoire and Louis losing both their parents so soon. We'll go out the front door and talk to them."

"That's insane," Bill said.

"We don't really have the time," Charlie replied quickly. "If we leave here, we'll have to stay at Shell Cottage. It was too small before, it'll be too small now. Besides, chances are it is actually Dedalus and Hestia. Just go and we'll deal with this. We will come to you as soon as we can." Bill stared at him for a moment before nodding. He grabbed just a few things for the kids before leaving to Shell Cottage.

"What do we do then?" Hermione asked.

"We go to the front door, open it and reveal ourselves," Charlie said.

"And if they _are_ Death Eaters?" Ginny asked. Charlie shrugged.

"They'll want to take us into the Ministry," he said simply. "If it comes to that … well, I know the Killing Curse." The three of them stared at each other and nodded before running to the front door.

"I'll go first," Ginny said, reaching for the handle. "Don't argue, just let me do it."

Before Charlie could talk, she thrust the door open and raised her hands, her wand stowed in a holder on her belt.

"Don't attack!" she called out. She ducked a red stunner. "Oi! I'm unarmed!"

"Hold your fire!" an unfamiliar voice called out. A moment afterwards a second, female voice which belonged to Hestia spoke up.

"You're dead!" she called out. "Ginny Weasley is dead and yet there you stand."

"I _am_ Ginny Weasley," Ginny said loudly. "And as far as I can tell, I'm very much alive right now."

"What was it in that house that Nymphadora Tonks kept tripping over?" Hestia called out.

"A lot of things," Ginny said boldly. "Mostly the Troll-leg umbrella stand. Got rid of that abomination years ago."

"Who was the real Harry with?" the voice from the unknown man asked.

"Hagrid," Ginny answered immediately. "On a flying motorcycle."

"She checks out," Charlie heard Dedalus Diggle say. "Merlin, it's really her."

"Are you alone?" Hestia asked. Charlie couldn't see the other three, but Ginny had lowered her arms and Hestia seemed to be approaching.

"Not quite," Ginny said, turning around. "Hermione, you're going to need to tell them the address."

"Hermione?" Dedalus asked in shock as Hermione exited the door. "As in Granger?"

"That would be me, yes," Hermione answered.

"Which Harry was with you?" the other man asked immediately.

"None, because I was Harry and I was with Kingsley Shacklebolt," Hermione answered swiftly.

"Was that really necessary?" Dedalus asked and there was a snort of derision which Charlie assumed came from the other man.

"You know, we really should be asking you things too," Hermione said slowly. "Then again, Death Eaters know nothing about the Seven Harry's thing. Or about the umbrella stand. I think we can let it slide."

Hermione then recited the address. When she did, Charlie waited as the group walked in. Hestia looked at him with a shocked look on her face, as did Dedalus.

"Which Harry were you?" the taller man demanded.

"I wasn't there for that one," Charlie replied. "If it helps, I can tell you that Mundungus was the one who was with Moody and got him killed."

"Good enough," the man said gruffly.

"How do you know all of this anyway?" Ginny asked the taller man. "I've never seen you before in my life."

"Soon," Hestia said, putting a hand on Ginny's shoulder.

"I must say, we never expected to find you all here," Dedalus said with a smile. "Oh, and apologies for the blasts. We just assumed it was Death Eaters when we couldn't see the house."

"No harm done," Hermione said with a smile.

"Merlin, the next thing you'll tell us is that you have Harry Potter here as well," Hestia said breathlessly.

"Not quite," Charlie replied. "No, You-Know-Who killed Harry in the Great Hall. We saw it happen. We do have others, but they're at our other safehouse."

"I'll get them," Hermione said, walking to the fireplace and throwing Floo powder in. Within seconds she disappeared.

"This place is looking nice," Hestia commented. "Much better than the last time I saw it."

"We've had over five years to clean up," Charlie said, laughing.

"You said you saw Potter die," the taller man said suddenly. "That happened in the Great Hall. Everyone in there was burned alive. In fact, you were meant to be burned alive. All three of you."

"We would have been had it not been for Charlie," Ginny said. "It was his instincts that got us out of there. He blew a hole in the wall and we escaped." The taller man regarded Charlie for a moment.

"Couldn't have done better myself," he said gruffly.

"And just who are you?" Charlie asked pointedly. Before the man could answer, not that Charlie thought that he actually would, the fireplace flared up and Luna stepped out holding Victoire.

"Luna Lovegood?" Hestia said in an odd voice.

"How about we ignore the questions," Charlie said, looking at the tall man who was about to speak. "We can vouch for her. She's been with us since the Battle of Hogwarts."

"Fair enough," the tall man admitted. The fireplace flared again and Bill stepped through holding Louis, shocking Hestia and Dedalus again. Almost immediately, Hermione came through.

"We heard about Fleur," Hestia said suddenly. "Was she with you?"

"Yes," Bill said. Charlie saw his eyes change, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been before. "I was at Beauxbatons with her but I got out. This is our youngest child Louis. Luna has Victoire."

"Children with You-Know-Who around?" the tall man asked with his eyebrows raised. Bill seemed to bristle at that.

"And just who are you then?" he asked.

"Is everyone here?" Dedalus asked, cutting in.

"More or less, yes," Luna replied. "We have some friends, but this is all who live here."

"Friends?" the tall man asked.

"You answer our questions, we'll answer yours," Ginny said sharply. The man nodded and looked at the watch on his arm.

"I'm supposed to take a swig about now, but I'll just let myself turn back," he said gruffly, sitting down on the couch, the first to do so.

"Polyjuice potion?" Hermione asked. "Why do you need that?"

"I don't want Death Eaters knowing who I am," he said simply. "Since we thought we were attacking Death Eaters, it was the best thing to do."

"Not that it matters," Dedalus put in wryly. "He'd use it anyway."

"So whose body are you using?" Hermione asked.

"A Muggle's," the man said, more of a grunt than anything else. Charlie could tell that he would be changing back soon. "We took all the precautions. We put up a temporary Muggle repelling charm outside your house so they wouldn't suspect anything, as well as a sound dampening field. For the bangs."

Suddenly the man's face seemed to burble and bubble as it began to change into what would be his natural face. It was happening with the rest of his body, but all they could see was his face and his hands. Within seconds a familiar man sat opposite them, reaching into a pouch that was clearly magically enhanced.

It was Mad-Eye Moody.

Everyone except Moody, Hestia and Dedalus gasped and stared as Moody pulled out a wooden leg from his pouch and used a wand to attach it to his leg. He also pulled out a large staff which Charlie had never seen the man have before.

"You died," Bill said as Moody put his magical eye in its socket. "I saw you die."

"Nonsense," Moody said gruffly, shifting in his seat. Charlie noted that Moody looked a bit older, but not all that much older than he had when he had last seen him all those years ago. "I wouldn't be here if you did now would I?"

"You-Know-Who shot a Killing Curse at you, it hit you in the face and you fell about one thousand feet with no wand," Bill insisted. Moody scoffed.

"Your first mistake is thinking I need a wand to save myself," he growled. "The second is that you think I wouldn't have prepared to fall that far. The third was assuming it was a Killing Curse."

"It was a green spell," Bill said, annoyed. "And it hit you right in the face."

"Aye, that it did," Moody said with a laugh. "But it wasn't the Killing Curse. Our friend Voldy didn't want me to die so easily. The curse wasn't actually green, it just looked like it. Aqua is closer to the truth."

"Of course," Bill said, wide-eyed.

"I only know one aqua spell," Hermione said.

"A kid's spell, really. All it does is push you back," Moody said, the smile he was now wearing pulling his face in an ugly way. "It's not overly useful on the ground, but in the air it can be very useful. If it hits a person in the face it can make them pass out. Luckily it hit me right in the magical eye. It took most of the spell, meaning I was conscious when falling to the ground. I was able to reach into my pouch when I was falling and pull out a hip flask with a Feather-fall Potion in it, so when I took it I didn't crash into the ground. I floated.

"When I landed on the ground, on my feet I would like it said," Moody said matter-of-factly, "I pulled out the second of my five wands and transfigured a branch into a near accurate representation of my dead body, flesh and all. I bashed it around a bit so it seemed like it fell a thousand feet then put my eye nearby and got out of there."

There was a silence among the group that seemed to amuse Moody as his face was pulling grotesquely.

"You have _five_ wands?" Ginny asked, looking at him oddly.

"Six now," Moody replied. "And my new staff as well. Works like a wand."

"How did you get more?" Luna asked. "As far as we can tell Ollivander only works for the Ministry now."

"I went to France early on and found the best wand-maker there," Moody explained. "Got him to make two since I only had four at the time. I also got him to make me the staff. He was good like that."

"Were you at Hogwarts?" Bill asked. Moody shook his head.

"Unfortunately, no," he muttered. "I wouldn't dare be seen, so I decided to find Dedalus and Hestia and hide with them and those bloody Dursley bastards. Didn't know about Hogwarts until a few days later. I tracked down a Death Eater and he told me what I needed to know."

"That's right!" Hermione said suddenly, turning to Hestia and Dedalus. "You were with Harry's family."

"Sure were," Hestia said. "It was about a month until Mad-Eye showed up."

"By then they'd actually warmed to us a bit," Dedalus said. "Then they kind of reverted back to how they were to begin with when Mad-Eye showed up, but they soon got used to it."

"What have you guys been doing since then?" Charlie asked.

"Too little," Moody growled. "We've managed to take down a few Death Eaters, but it's few and far between."

"That's why we attacked this place so readily," Dedalus said. "We thought it might be a blow to the Death Eaters if it was under the Fidelius."

"Genius by the way," Moody said to no one in particular. "A fidelius inside a fidelius. It has its flaws, but it also has some interesting protective benefits."

"What have _you_ been doing the last few years?" Hestia asked the group.

"Living," Luna said simply.

"We haven't done a great deal for the war effort, if that's what you're asking," Bill said not unkindly. "Truth be told, all we've done is hide away. We thought we were the only ones left."

"So did we," Hestia replied.

"Well, we've been doing a bit more recently," Charlie said.

"Your 'friends'?" Moody asked and Charlie nodded.

"That's a part of it," Charlie said. With the help of the others, Charlie recounted how they had planned to go after Greyback, what had happened to Angelina and that a Muggle boy now had magic. Even Moody looked utterly shocked at that revelation. The group was just about to tell them about Draco, Astoria and Hugo Brantell as the fireplace lit up and Draco Malfoy stepped through.

"Hermione, I need you," he said urgently. Charlie and Hermione both went to him as he saw the three newcomers.

"We'll tell you later," Charlie promised.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked quickly.

"Something's happened to Astoria," Draco said worriedly. "And I've got some visitors for you."


	21. The Best and Worst of Life

_**Disclaimer: **_I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes.

* * *

_**Chapter 21**_

_**The Best and Worst of Life**_

"_You take the bad with the good. Rise up through it. Live in the mist of it. It's the bad that lets you know how good the good really is. Don't let the bad leave you thinking like there ain't any good. There is, and lots of it, too._ "  
\- Charles Martin ("Chasing Fireflies")

_**Dennis Creevey**_

_**3rd January, 2004**_

Dennis walked out of his bedroom just moments after waking up to find Patrick and Sam kissing on the couch with the television on in the background, forgotten by both of them.

"Will you two get a damn room?" Dennis said grumpily, looking away and heading towards the kitchen.

Ever since he had caught them together a week before, they had barely been able to keep their hands off each other, and it was beginning to get annoying and slightly sickening. Dennis was happy for both of them, but there was a limit to what he wanted to see, and making out on the couch and him not being able to see their hands was just a little too much for him.

"We have one," Patrick said pointedly, disentangling himself from Sam. "Two, in fact. Prefer the couch."

"I can see that," Dennis replied. "Other than the painfully obvious, do you two have any plans for today?"

"I don't," Sam replied, standing up and flattening her clothes. "You're up earlier than usual."

"Didn't sleep well," Dennis replied, placing two slices of bread into the toaster before opening the fridge. "We need bread. And milk, it seems."

"I'll walk around and get some later," Sam said pleasantly. "What about you? Any plans?"

"Not really," Dennis replied, leaning on the counter. "I was thinking about visiting Teddy while I have the time. Give him a bit of a surprise."

"That's cute," Sam said smiling. Dennis smiled back.

"Well, I did promise," Dennis said. He looked over at Patrick. "What about you?"

"Nothing planned," he confirmed, only now standing up. "I thought I'd get some reading done. I hate it, but it has to be done, unfortunately."

"Yes, how strenuous," Dennis said, laughing. After breakfast Dennis decided to go with Sam to the supermarket. There was one near their apartment, so it was little more than a ten minute walk to get there. They chatted idly for a while before Sam brought something else up.

"Are you really okay with me and Pat?" she asked, almost shyly. This took Dennis by surprise as he didn't remember a time where Sam had ever seemed shy at all. In fact, she was one of the more outgoing people he knew.

"Yeah, of course I am," Dennis replied. "I could do with less of the kissing, but other than that it's fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just thought that maybe you … um …" Sam trailed off and Dennis took a moment to realise what she was saying.

"That I liked you?" Dennis asked. When she nodded, Dennis laughed. "Sam, you know I love you but not like that. You're a friend to me."

"Well, that makes me feel better," Sam said, less shy now. "And I know you aren't lying. You're a terrible liar."

"I am not," Dennis said defensively. "And how would you even know? A good liar would never be caught. That's the point of being a liar."

"I guess you're right," Sam admitted. "You did keep that big thing from us for ages."

"I am rather good at hiding 'big things' from you," Dennis said. It took a moment, but Sam eventually realised what he was implying and hit him on the arm. "Come on! That was an easy one."

"We live together, if you were hiding that, I would know," Sam said slyly as Dennis began to blush. "You started this, buddy. No time to be getting all shy."

"Okay, fine," Dennis said quickly and changed the topic.

It didn't take long to get what they needed from the store and walk back home. Patrick was true to his word and was reading one of his textbooks. Dennis threw a bag of lollies into his lap and Patrick thanked him, opened the packet and continued to read.

"He shouldn't eat those things," Sam said. Sam was certainly rather notorious for being a health nut. Dennis simply shrugged.

"I've seen him eat worse than that," he replied, putting away some of the groceries. "Far worse."

"Right," Sam said. "Anyway, when are you leaving to go to your parents'?"

"Soon probably," Dennis replied. "I'll only want to stay until tomorrow, so I should get going early. What time is it?"

"About half past nine," Sam confirmed after consulting her wristwatch.

"I didn't realise it was still so early," Dennis replied. He had been getting up earlier recently but still wasn't used to doing so. "That's good. I can get there in time for lunch."

After putting the groceries away, Dennis went into his bedroom and packed what few things he was going to take with him. It didn't take very long, but it was long enough for him to start hearing what was clearly the beginning of an argument between Patrick and Sam. This was something that was becoming alarmingly common between the two of them since they got together. Not that Dennis was particularly surprised. In fact, he had expected it from the very beginning of their relationship. He wasn't glad it was happening, but he figured that it was simply inevitable and that it was something he would have to deal with.

"You don't need them right now," Sam said as Dennis walked out of his room with his backpack. Dennis didn't like the tone she was using and knew that Patrick wouldn't either. "They're not good for you."

"That's why I like them," Patrick said. He had sat his textbook down next to him and was focused solely on Sam. Dennis didn't want to get in between them, so he decided to just wait for them to finish. "I like it when I get to have things that aren't good for me. Besides, I've eaten stuff like this all my life. It's my body, I'll do what I like with it."

"Well you shouldn't," Sam said. "Do you know what that stuff can do to you?"

"No, I don't," Patrick retorted. "And frankly, I don't want to know."

"So you would rather be ignorant than healthy?" Sam asked.

"No," Patrick replied. "I would rather be happy than healthy. I don't like the types of food you eat all the time, so it would make me unhappy to eat them."

"Well, it's your choice," Sam said, sounding as though she believed exactly the opposite. "I'm just trying to help you."

"I don't need you to, alright? I can make a decision to eat a few jelly babies. Hell, I could eat the whole packet if I want," Patrick said. The phone began to ring so Dennis moved into the room with them.

"I'm gonna get this," he said to them. "You want to take that somewhere else for a while?" Both of them nodded somewhat curtly and left the room and entering into Patrick's bedroom, something that Dennis was sure would be a mistake. Dennis picked up the phone.

"Hello," he said by way of greeting.

"Dennis?" his father said on the other end.

"Oh, hey Dad," Dennis said. "What's going on?"

"The usual. Nothing special, really," his father replied. "Given any thought to coming over?"

"Yeah, I was just about to leave, actually," Dennis replied. "I'll stay tonight and come back tomorrow. I've got a few essays to do and I can concentrate more here."

"Well, it's probably for the best that you're coming," his father said. Dennis thought he could hear some nervousness in his father's tone.

"What's wrong?" Dennis asked worriedly.

"I'm sure it's nothing," his father said. "Teddy was just saying that he saw some weird people at the park yesterday. I was with him and I didn't see them, but he did."

"You sure you didn't see anything?" Dennis asked quickly.

"I don't think so, no," his father replied, now sounding more nervous. "Do you think Teddy's right?"

"He could be," Dennis admitted. "Wizards have ways of hiding themselves from Muggles, so that might be why you didn't see anything."

"He _is_ young," his father pointed out. "He might just have seen something and it seemed odd in his head."

"True, but better to be safe than sorry," Dennis said. "I'm not sure there's anything I can do, but I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Alright then," his father said. "Drive safely."

"Will do," Dennis said and hung up the phone. As he did, he couldn't help but feel concerned for Teddy's safety. He knew that the Death Eaters were trying to track down Umbridge and if they believed that Teddy was the key to finding her, Dennis had no doubt that they would try and get their hands on him.

"Look, I don't want this today," Patrick said angrily, walking out of his bedroom door. "I don't like fighting with you, Sam."

"I don't like fighting with you," Sam responded, equally as angrily. "But sometimes you do things that annoy me."

"Dennis, do you mind if I tag along with you?" Patrick said, looking at Dennis who raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey, I'm not going to get involved," he said. "This is between you two."

"Walking away from things doesn't make them go away," Sam said, seemingly ignoring Dennis.

"No, but it'll give us time to cool down a bit," Patrick replied. "Dennis, let's go." Dennis sighed.

"Where are you going to stay?" Dennis asked. "I'll be on the couch as it is."

"I know some people nearby," Patrick replied. "I've been meaning to see them anyway. Let me call them first."

"Go right ahead," Dennis said with an exasperated sigh.

"So, what?" Sam asked before Patrick could pick up the phone. "You're just going to leave me here on my own?"

"Would you rather that or have us not talk to each other while Dennis is away?" Patrick asked. "It's just until tomorrow anyway. Aren't you going to some party tonight?"

"I was thinking about not going and spending time with you, but I guess I'll just go then," Sam said, annoyed. Dennis looked at her apologetically as Patrick dialled the phone. She just rolled her eyes and walked into her room. Dennis felt bad for her, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to convince Patrick to stay here with her. He didn't think that Sam would hold that against him.

After almost two minutes, Patrick hung up the phone.

"They said it's cool if I stay there tonight," he said. "I'll grab some stuff and we can go."

"Alright," Dennis said unenthusiastically. He had to remind himself that he didn't want to get involved in Patrick and Sam's relationship any more than he already was. He waited for a few minutes as Patrick packed some things into an old backpack that he owned.

"Okay, let's go," Patrick said finally and Dennis nodded.

"We're going Sam," he called out.

"Whatever," Sam said, her raised voice muffled by the closed door to her room.

"You're not going to say goodbye?" Dennis asked Patrick who scoffed.

"What good would that do?" he asked. "She's already angry with me and she will be for a few more hours. Oh, hang on. Almost forgot the jelly babies." Dennis sighed.

Dennis found the trip to be almost exactly like any time he would go on his own. Patrick had decided to do his reading in the car so that he could spend more time with his High School friend. Dennis predicted that there would be a lot happening for Patrick that night, most of it involving copious amounts of alcohol. In fact, he almost relished the thought of a hungover Patrick at the mercy of the volume control of Dennis' car radio tomorrow.

"How do you have enough money for all these trips?" Patrick suddenly asked.

"What?" Dennis asked, surprised by the sudden conversation from Patrick.

"You're always going home to see your parents and you never once complain about money," Patrick replied. "You don't have a job, your parents aren't crazy rich like Sam's and yet you never seem to lack for money. What's up with that?"

"What made you think about that?" Dennis asked.

"Got bored with the reading and my mind wandered," Patrick replied flippantly. "So what's with it then?"

"Well, I _may_ have confunded a few people here and there," Dennis admitted slyly. "That's how I got into my course. Plus I managed to get a scholarship. Also, my parents may not be crazy rich, but they aren't exactly poor. They had money set aside for me and Colin for years. When Colin died, they decided to give half of that money to me and keep half themselves. I mean, I'm not rolling in cash, but it's enough that I don't have to worry."

"Confunded people?" Patrick asked incredulously. He had learned a lot about magic, so Dennis had no doubts that he knew what the confundus charm was.

"I made the University people think I had the credentials to get in," Dennis explained. "I wouldn't have gotten in otherwise. I also used one to get into the apartment with you guys as well. Not that I knew you then, but I needed a place."

"And the scholarship?" Patrick asked. Dennis looked away from the wheel for long enough to see the smirk on his best friend's face.

"Not directly," Dennis said. "I applied for it and the information that the admin people put in my file probably helped me get it."

"You sit on a throne of lies!" Patrick said, quoting a movie they had watched a month ago. Dennis laughed.

"That about sums it up, yeah," he said with a grin. "So that's how I can afford to do all of this with no problems."

"You're lucky to have magic, I hope you know," Patrick said, shaking his head. "How long until we get there?"

"It really shouldn't be too much longer, really," Dennis replied. "In fact we should be coming up to …"

Dennis stopped talking as he saw something terrifying in the direction where his parents house should be. It was lucky that there was no one else driving in the area or else there might have been an accident.

"Oh god," Dennis said and abruptly parked the car on the side of the road.

"What?" Patrick asked as Dennis got out of the car and shut the door hard. "What's going on?"

"Can't you see that?" Dennis said, pointing in the direction he was looking.

"So, it's a clear day," Patrick said. "It's not unheard of you know."

"You really don't see that?" Dennis asked quickly, whipping around to look at Patrick with a crazed look.

"Dennis, are you okay?" Patrick asked. "There's nothing but sky there."

"Get back in the car," Dennis said rushing to the driver's seat, slamming the door shut as he sat down. When Patrick was in, Dennis immediately pulled onto the road and started driving, his hands trembling on the wheel.

"Dennis, you need to slow down," Patrick said worriedly from the passenger's seat. "You're going a bit fast." Dennis breathed slowly and started to slow down, though his hands would not stop shaking as he drew closer and closer to his parents' home. Finally he turned into the right street and saw what he was dreading. He parked the car a bit away and stared at the Dark Mark hanging in the sky over his parents' home.

"Dennis, what's going on?" Patrick asked after a moment of Dennis staring at the house.

"You can't see it?" Dennis asked.

"See what?" Patrick asked worriedly.

"The Dark Mark in the sky?" Dennis said panicking. "A skull and a snake?"

"There's nothing in the sky except a few clouds," Patrick said, looking around the street. Dennis shook his head and got out of the car abruptly. As he slammed the door, he heard the second door open and close. Dennis ran to his parents' home followed behind by Patrick. Just as Dennis got to the front lawn, he felt Patrick pull him aside.

"Dennis, I need to go see Scott," he said quickly.

"What?" Dennis asked, blinking at him.

"Scott," Patrick said slowly. "You know, my High School friend."

"Pat, my parents might be dead!" Dennis yelled. "Can't you see the damn mark?"

"There's nothing here," Patrick insisted. "And I need to go to Scott's." Dennis suddenly realised what was happening and grabbed hold of Patrick's arm and pulling him towards the house he had grown up in. After a few moments Dennis heard Patrick gasp.

"You see it now?" Dennis asked angrily.

"What the hell is that?" Patrick asked, pointing at the sky.

"Dark Mark," Dennis said. "Death Eater symbol. It means they've killed someone."

Dennis ran to the front door which had been blasted to pieces, his wand now grasped firmly in his hand and ready to strike. When he entered into the house he knew so well, a chill went down his spine and he almost turned and fled, but he didn't.

"Should I call the police?" Patrick asked, looking at the remains of the door.

"It's no use," Dennis said quickly and quietly. "They won't see the place."

"What do we do?" Patrick asked in a whisper.

"We look," Dennis said. "Stay close to me. If there are any still here, you won't stand a chance alone."

The living room was the first that Dennis entered and was untouched and empty. It appeared that the Death Eaters had left most of it alone. Dennis let out a sigh of relief and walked slowly into the kitchen which, too, was empty, though there was something boiling over on the stove which Dennis swiftly turned off.

Dennis and Patrick exited the kitchen back into the living room and then made their way to the nearby hallway. Dennis opened the door to Colin's bedroom just a little and looked inside. Everything was as it had been when he last was in there. He closed the door and moved on. When he checked the bathroom, it was empty as well.

The door to Dennis' old room, Teddy's bedroom, was blasted off like the front door. Dennis felt another chill go down his spine as he walked in. This fear he felt was founded as he saw his father slumped over the end of Teddy's bed, staring up at the ceiling with a vacant stare and blood crusting on his shirt and pants.

Dennis didn't remember dropping his wand, nor did he remember walking further into the room and trying in vain to make his father wake up. Dennis could only remember feeling Patrick's arm around his shoulder as he sat on his old bed looking into his father's eyes for what was a far shorter time than it seemed.

All of a sudden, Dennis remembered that his father would not have been the only person in the house and quickly picked up his wand and sprinted to his parents room. The door was closed and Dennis blasted it open with magic. When he did, he found his mother dead on the floor, her eyes closed and looking peaceful.

Dennis went into a frenzy.

"Teddy!" he called loudly. "Teddy!"

"Dennis, be quiet," Patrick said quickly. "They might be here."

"Teddy! It's Dennis!" Dennis called out, barely hearing Patrick's voice. Dennis found himself sprinting through the house, opening every door he found and calling Teddy's name, tears falling with each empty room. When he came to the living room again, Dennis fell to the ground and started to weep openly.

Some time later, Dennis was helped to his feet by Patrick, although he barely registered what was going on.

"We have to go," Dennis heard Patrick say. "We don't know they won't come back." Dennis murmured something before suddenly remembering his parents and descending into tears once again. This time he managed to keep his footing and allowed himself to be guided by his best friend out of the house and on to the next-door neighbours' lawn.

"Teddy," he finally said.

"He wasn't in the house," Patrick said. "I looked again. Twice. He's nowhere to be found."

"They have him," Dennis said despondently.

"Who?" Patrick asked. Before Dennis could answer, he heard several loud popping noises behind him.

"Could be worse, eh?" one man said gruffly. "Least they didn't torch the place."

"Still, we have to make this look like some _Muggle_ accident," another man with a deeper voice replied. "Waste of time. Stupid Muggles wouldn't see their hands in front of their faces."

"Who's that over there?" the first man asked.

"Muggles most like," the second man spat. "Oi, Malfoy! Get over there and deal with them two will ya?" Dennis heard footsteps approaching and then a woman with dark brown hair appeared in front of him.

"I know you!" she whispered. "Dennis, right?"

"Who the hell are you?" Patrick asked angrily.

"Look, I'm not here to hurt anyone," the woman replied. Dennis thought she seemed familiar, but he didn't much care. "If this is Dennis Creevey, like I assume it is considering whose home was attacked here and the state he's in, I can do something to help."

"Why should we trust you?" Patrick asked.

"Oi Malfoy!" a voice yelled. "What's taking so long?"

"I have to be thorough. Won't be much longer," the woman called back. She looked back at Patrick. "That's why. I lied to them about what I'm doing."

"What can you do?" Patrick asked after a moment. The woman handed him what appeared to be a pencil from her cloak.

"Make sure you and Dennis are holding this and then count down from three," she replied quickly. She then added, "Are you a Muggle?"

"Yes, I am," Patrick answered.

"That's fine," the woman replied. "It'll still work for you. Just hold on extra tight."

"You got that Dennis?" Patrick asked and Dennis nodded, looking at the woman.

"I'm sorry this happened," she said sincerely. "My husband will look after you, I promise. And trust him."

"You ready?" Patrick asked and Dennis nodded and grabbed the pencil, looking back at his home which now had five men in black cloaks going inside. "3 … 2 … 1."

There was a pull at Dennis' navel, but he had time enough to see the red bolt of magic hit the woman square in her chest just as she stood up to leave Dennis and Patrick. She disappeared before Dennis could see her hit the ground.

When Dennis and Patrick landed with a crash, Dennis felt carpet under his body. He knew immediately that he was in a house somewhere.

"Who are you?" a voice said after a moment. Dennis pulled himself up from the ground and looked around. The house seemed to be quite dark but at the same time rather nice and tranquil. As he was looking around he laid eyes on a man who was undoubtedly Draco Malfoy.

"You," he growled, his eyes blaring.

"Did Astoria send you?" Malfoy asked quickly. Dennis raised his wand, but it was soon gone from his hand as Malfoy disarmed him. "Look, I get it. However, I could have killed you both right now, and I didn't. So answer my questions. Who are you and did Astoria send you?"

"I'm Patrick Stevenson," Patrick said quickly. "And this is Dennis Creevey."

"Creevey?" Malfoy asked, his eyes widening. "I remember you. You were the younger one, right?" Dennis nodded, but the scowl didn't leave his face.

"Does Astoria have brown hair?" Patrick asked before Dennis could speak.

"Yes, that's her," Malfoy confirmed, looking to Dennis. "Look, I know you don't like me, and with good reason, but you have to understand that my wife and I aren't Death Eaters. The opposite in fact."

"Yeah, right," Dennis said angrily. "Like you didn't have anything to do with what happened to my parents. Tell me, Malfoy. Did you enjoy it? Did you like seeing my parents die? Did you enjoy taking a five year old to your master?"

"I was not involved," Malfoy persisted. "Trust me. I am truly sorry about your parents. This explains why Astoria sent you then."

"THEY'RE DEAD!" Dennis exploded. "My parents are dead and Teddy's been captured and is probably being tortured right now and you actually expect me to think that you had nothing to do with it? You, the most OBVIOUS fucking Death Eater in Hogwarts? Right. Sure. I believe you."

"If you give me a minute, I can prove to you that I'm not a Death Eater," Malfoy said. "All I need to do is us the Floo for a minute."

"And bring back your Death Eater pals?" Dennis scoffed. "No thank you."

"Maybe just hear him out," Patrick cut in. "You've told me before that magic makes killing people a breeze. He could have done it if he wanted to."

Dennis looked at Patrick and sighed.

"Give me my wand back," Dennis said to Malfoy who nodded and handed over the wand. "If you're gone any longer than a minute, we're leaving."

"Reasonable," Malfoy said. He moved to leave.

"Uh, there's something you should know," Patrick said before Malfoy could leave. He turned. "Your wife, Astoria. When we were … um … leaving, I saw her get hit with something."

"What?" Malfoy said quickly. "What happened?"

"She was hit with a Stunning Spell," Dennis said unemotionally.

"This is not good," Malfoy said. "I'll need you two gone as soon as possible. I'll be back in a minute." Dennis watched, wand raised, as Malfoy threw some Floo powder into the fireplace, walked in, said something that he couldn't understand and disappeared, shocking Patrick beside him.

"Dennis, I'm so sorry," Patrick said, his voice heavy.

"Not now," Dennis said bluntly. "I fully expect Death Eaters here any second. No time for talk." Patrick seemed to understand and stopped talking.

A few moments later the fireplace flared up and Malfoy walked out of it with his hands raised. Dennis had his wand trained on the blonde's chest. The fireplace flared up again and Dennis was fully prepared to cast something at Malfoy, but the person he saw shocked him.

"Hermione?" he said incredulously. "Hermione Granger?"

"Draco, who …" Hermione said, but then her eyes widened in recognition. "Dennis Creevey. What are you doing here? And who's your friend?"

"Patrick Stevenson," Patrick said. "I'm beginning to feel out of place. Everyone seems to know everyone else."

"Welcome to our little world," Hermione said.

"As nice as this is, these two need to leave my house," Malfoy said harshly. "They have Astoria, so they'll come for me soon."

"Wait," Hermione said and Dennis was surprised to note that she seemed to actually care about Draco Malfoy of all people. "Will you be okay?"

"Of course," Malfoy said arrogantly. "I'll tell them Astoria was working alone. The Malfoy name will do the rest."

"You really think that will work?" Hermione asked. Malfoy nodded.

"If my father can integrate himself into normal society having been a Death Eater, I can do it this way," he replied. "You need to take these two with you. I'll contact you when I can."

"Where are we going?" Dennis asked. Hermione turned to him and Patrick.

"The Hiding Place is located at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place," she said curtly. "Dennis, you know how to use the Floo network right?" When he nodded she turned to Patrick who cut her off.

"Muggle," he said.

"Ah, well that's fine," Hermione said. "You can use the Floo, you just need to go with someone at least the first few times. I'll take you since I know the place better."

"What do I say?" Dennis asked, taking some of the offered Floo Powder from Malfoy who, he noted, he was trusting more now that he knew about Hermione.

"Number 12, Grimmauld Place," Hermione said as Dennis threw the powder into the fireplace. "Actually, I should go first. We've got some jumpy people there at the moment."

"Was that Alastor Moody?" Malfoy asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'll tell you more later," Hermione promised. She grabbed Patrick's hand and led him into the flames. Dennis had to nod to make sure that Patrick knew it was safe. A moment later they were gone. Dennis took some more powder and threw it into the fireplace. He looked back at Malfoy.

"I'm sorry about your wife," he said. "It only happened because she helped us."

"And I'm sorry about your family," Malfoy replied. "It only happened because we haven't gotten rid of the Dark Lord yet."

There was a moment of recognition between the two of them. A shared glance into a future where they stood side-by-side against the forces that would seek to ruin the world. Dennis nodded, turned to the flames and spoke the address aloud.

A few moments later, Dennis tumbled out of a different fireplace and fell to the ground. He got into a sitting position and looked around him. The room was full of people, some he recognised and others that he didn't. Seeing the faces of people he had long since believed were dead filled him simultaneously with joy and a deep upset.

In that moment, as Dennis looked from person to person as Hermione spoke, Dennis realised the enormity of what had just happened. Images flashed through his mind. He saw his mother and father once again, both of them dead in different rooms. He saw Colin running so he could fight. He saw little Teddy in some dank cell somewhere, crying and alone.

Dennis put his head into his hands and, not for the first time that day, he felt tears falling down his cheeks. He sobbed in a room full of people, not caring what anyone might think. He had lost almost everything in his life. He couldn't see what, of any importance, he had left.

Dennis did not think of vengeance or revenge or anything else that other people might think of. He did not wish pain upon those who had hurt him, nor did his mind enter the realm of violence. Dennis simply wept for his family, and for those who had lost the same over the years.

Dennis felt a blast of heat in front of his face and a slight orange light through his hands and his eyelids. The heat was extremely soothing and upon hearing it, he felt his troubles begin to lessen. Dennis lowered his hands and raised his eyes, looking into the beady black eyes of a beautiful red and gold bird in front of him. He could have sworn that he could see his pain and agony in the bird's eyes as he stared. Everyone around him was quiet and still.

The phoenix opened its beak and started to sing. Dennis sat and listened for what seemed to be an eternity as the phoenix continued to sing a beautiful, mournful tune that soothed Dennis to the soul. Dennis felt as though the phoenix was trying to tell him something. Something of immense importance. It was almost like the phoenix was speaking in his mind. His very soul.

_You are not alone_.


	22. Repairing the Damage

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 22**_

_**Rescue Mission I: Repairing the Damage**_

"_All the world's a stage,  
And all the men and women merely players;  
They have their exits and their entrances;  
And one man in his time plays many parts,  
His acts being seven ages._"  
\- William Shakespeare ("As You Like It")

_**Draco Malfoy**_

_**4th January, 2004**_

"Do you understand why you are present, Draco?"

The Dark Lord was seated in his ornately carved throne within the confines of the Minister for Magic's office, his red slits for eyes trained on the blonde standing in front of him. To the Dark Lord's left stood Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. They were both looking at their son with looks of utter concern, although Draco did believe that he could detect some satisfaction on the face of his mother. While it did annoy him, he couldn't help but realise that she was actually right and likely deserved to feel pleased.

To the Dark Lord's right stood Gilderoy Lockhart, dressed in a mixture of blue and yellow that made him stand out amongst the rest of the dull and uninteresting room. With Lockhart stood Tarquin Yaxley and Walden Macnair, the former looking on with an air of confidence, but not for himself, but seemingly for Draco. Macnair was glaring. Then again, Macnair was always glaring at something or other.

Draco looked towards the man who he had previously, at one point, admired. The long wand in his hand was held idly, as though he had no intention at all of using it, but Draco knew better than that. Draco knew that, given the chance, the Dark Lord could kill him and everyone else in the room with only slightly more than a thought. That was a terrifying thought, but Draco tried his best to not appear to be frightened as he knew that would be almost the same thing as a death sentence. In fact, if his parents weren't who they were, he would likely already be dead.

"I understand that you hold my wife in custody, My Lord," Draco said, trying to keep his voice level. His father had told him nothing more than this when he told Draco he would have to meet with the Dark Lord. It was important that Draco only speak on what he should know. "May I ask why?"

"You may indeed," the Dark Lord said, amusement written plainly on his face and a smirk curving the edge of his lips ever so slightly. "Your wife was reprimanded by another member of the Invisibility Task Force. She was sent to clean up the mess made by my Death Eaters earlier in the day."

"If I may, My Lord," Lockhart said loudly and pompously. Draco wished he could sneer at the man. "I know the details quite well."

"Of course, Gilderoy," the Dark Lord said, leaning back in his throne. "Tell Draco of his wife's treachery."

"Treachery?" Draco asked, feigning shock. He felt he did a good job and could see no trace that he had done otherwise. "Astoria would not do such a thing."

"It appears that you do not know your young wife as well as you might think," Lockhart said, still sounding pompous. Draco looked the man in the eyes and saw tiredness. "While in the field, your wife was found to be aiding the getaway of Muggles utilising magic. A Portkey to be precise. She was, according to the group leader, meant to be applying memory charms and, instead, created a Portkey and sent them away to an unknown location. She was apprehended by the leader of the group and has since been held captive in Azkaban until such a time that a proper trial can be arranged."

"Azkaban?" Draco asked, fearing that his voice would betray him. He looked to his parents. His father looked quite concerned, whereas his mother now wore a self-satisfied look on her face completely. He looked to the Dark Lord. "She is a young woman of noble blood. Surely you could find somewhere else to keep her."

"She is a traitor," the Dark Lord said evenly, with no emotion whatsoever. He sat forward, however, and regarded Draco somewhat seriously. "We do have to wonder whether she was, in fact, working on her own."

"My Lord, Draco is loyal to your cause, and always has been," Lucius said quickly. "If Astoria has committed any crime, I can assure you that Draco had nothing to do with it whatsoever."

"Your loyalty, Lucius, has concerned me many times over the many years that we have known each other," the Dark Lord spoke, still looking at Draco. "At this moment I have no cause to suspect you, however with your son so close to a traitor, the shadow of doubt has fallen upon him. Tell the truth, Draco. If you don't, I _will_ know."

"My Lord, I have no wish to betray you or our world," Draco lied, focusing his mind on putting any thoughts of his betrayal where the Dark Lord could not find them. He felt the Dark Lord rummaging in his head, but attempted to ignore it. "If my wife is a traitor, I assure you that I want no part of her. I do not doubt your word, My Lord. However, Astoria is still my wife and I have grown to care deeply for her. Until such a time that I can discern whether or not what you say is true for myself, I will feel concern for her."

"A weakness," the Dark Lord spat.

"I saw this coming, My Lord," Narcissa spoke up. Draco felt a great surge of anger, but did not let it show. "I saw her for what she was. I am just glad she did not take my son with her down the path of complete and utter madness."

"If you saw this, why not report it earlier?" the Dark Lord asked, finally looking away from Draco. "We might have prevented her treachery."

"My Lord, I –" Narcissa began but was cut off.

"_Crucio_!" the Dark Lord cried. Narcissa screamed and fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Something inside Draco made him want to run to her, but he did not dare do so. After ten seconds, the Dark Lord lifted the curse and Narcissa slowly made her way back to her feet. The Dark Lord looked back towards Draco as if nothing had occurred. "You would have us believe that you had no hand in your wife's treachery? That you did not know of it?"

"I knew nothing of it, My Lord," Draco said, his voice cracking slightly. "If I had I would have brought it to either my father or you so that you could deal with it yourself."

The Dark Lord looked into Draco's eyes, his wand now grasped firmly in his hands, though pointed away from Draco. Draco's heart was beating faster than he could remember it ever beating before. It seemed that the room was still for far too long.

"It appears that you are not as foolish as your mother," the Dark Lord finally said, breaking the long silence. "I see the truth behind your words, however it is also true that the truth can be hidden."

"I hide nothing, My Lord," Draco said, simpering somewhat. "My mind is an open book to you."

"So it seems," the Dark Lord replied. "Nonetheless, we should be thorough. Tomorrow I shall have Lockhart retrieve your wife from Azkaban and you shall meet her in this room in front of everyone present here. I shall read your mind as you meet to ascertain the truth of the matter."

"Is this to be the trial?" Draco asked. The Dark Lord's face darkened.

"You may not see it right now, but you are on thin ice," he said, his voice deeper than usual. "You shall address me in the appropriate manner or you will suffer the same fate as your mother."

"My apologies, My Lord," Draco said, dropping to one knee and bowing his head. "I let my emotions get the better of me and I forgot myself. I apologise."

"To answer your question," the Dark Lord said as Draco looked at the carpeted floor below him, "no, this is not to be your wife's trial. Your wife will be tried before the Wizengamot in a week's time."

"If she is found guilty, My Lord?" Draco asked, still not looking up.

"What would you suggest, Draco?" the Dark Lord asked.

"I could not say, My Lord," Draco replied after a moment. "My emotions would cloud my judgment."

"Indeed," the Dark Lord said. Draco could not see him, but there was no doubt in his mind that the Dark Lord was sneering. "We shall see. What happens to your wife is dependent on the severity of her crimes."

There was a few moments of silence as Draco still did not move.

"You may leave," the Dark Lord said.

"Thank you, My Lord," Draco replied and finally stood up. He saw his parents walking towards him, and decided that it was best to get into their good books for now. When they were well clear of the Minister's Office, Draco spoke again. "That was stupid of you, Mother."

"Yes, I am well aware of that now, thank you," Narcissa replied in annoyance.

"Draco," Lucius cut in, "would you like to stay at Malfoy Manor tonight? I understand how you must feel. It would be terrible to be alone in that house."

"I think I would prefer to be alone, Father," Draco replied curtly. "My wife is being accused of treachery and possibly treason. I need some time to digest this, so I must be alone." Lucius looked him over for a minute, almost as closely as the Dark Lord had back in the office. It was as if Lucius was looking for the hint of a lie, and that made Draco quite worried. He needed his father on his side. The Malfoy name was too important for now.

"I see," Lucius said, seemingly satisfied with Draco's response. "Narcissa, you go through the Floo first. I'll follow in a few moments. I have to see Yaxley about something."

"Draco, don't throw your life away for that whore," Narcissa said in what she probably assumed was a kind, motherly voice. Draco fought the urge to yell in her face and simply nodded. Narcissa hugged him curtly, as if she didn't even want to do it, and walked away towards the row of fireplaces.

"Draco, I must know one way or another," Lucius said quietly. "If I am to help you in any way I can, I must know that you are telling the truth. Did you know about Astoria's plans?"

"Of course not," Draco said immediately. It wasn't until afterwards that he realised that he may have replied too quickly. "If Astoria had any plans, she did not include me in them."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Lucius asked. He actually looked concerned.

"I am," Draco replied. "And if I'm being honest, I'm not certain that she even did what they claim she did."

"There was a witness," Lucius pointed out.

"Who could be lying," Draco retorted.

"Lying to the Dark Lord?" Lucius asked, as if it was shocking.

"We know that Severus did," Draco pointed out. "And by asking me that question, you must believe that I might be able to. Why not this group leader as well?"

"The Dark Lord is more powerful now," Lucius replied. "However, he is not without his faults. He may have overlooked something with you as you bear his mark. This group leader has no Dark Mark. The Dark Lord has interrogated him himself."

"You seem sure that Astoria is guilty," Draco said. "How can you be so prepared to lynch your daughter-in-law."

"The Dark Lord is more important than anything," Lucius said with a dark tone of finality. "If there is any threat to the way of life provided to us by the Dark Lord, it needs to be exterminated."

"Even family?" Draco asked, looking Lucius dead in the eye. He didn't like what he saw.

"Even family," Lucius replied.

"So if I did, and I'm not saying that I had anything to do with it, but if I did know, would you 'exterminate' me?" Draco asked angrily. Lucius seemed to weigh it in his mind.

"I would do everything within my power to make sure that your punishment was not so severe," Lucius finally said. "You are the only heir to House Malfoy, and therefore you must continue. However, if you did pose a threat to the Ministry, yes, I would."

"Good to know, Father," Draco said, trying not to let the anger seep into his voice. "If you'll excuse me, I must be getting home. I have some thinking to do."

Without waiting for a response from his father, Draco walked towards the fireplaces and went straight back to Spinner's End where he quickly sunk back into an armchair and massaged his temples. He considered going to Grimmauld Place, but decided that it was not worth it. His Floo was likely being monitored. He quickly scrawled a letter for Angelina and sent it to her with his owl. He knew that non-Ministry owls were difficult to track and so he could send a letter to Angelina without fear of it being tracked. He did make sure to keep the letter vague, but also said enough to make her let the others know not to come to him until it was safe. He would have sent it directly to Grimmauld Place but, while the threat was minimal, he didn't want to endanger them at all. Angelina, Alicia and Katie would be able to hide at Grimmauld Place if necessary.

For the rest of the day, Draco sat and thought to himself about what he should or, perhaps more accurately, what he could do. There was no doubt in his mind that Astoria would be found guilty. The fact is, he knew that Astoria was guilty of the crimes of which she was being accused. The only question was what her sentence would be. With Astoria being a pureblood, Draco thought that there might be something of a lenient sentence. He was fairly certain that she would not be executed at least. At the most she would get a few years in Azkaban, which is likely a fate worse than death with the Dementors back there and hungry for more human beings. That prison took far stronger human beings than Astoria, Draco knew for certain.

There was nothing for it. He could not think of any way that he could stop her from being sentenced, and he was well aware that meant time in Azkaban. Nothing he could say or do would save her from that. He needed to work something else out.

He wished that he could go to Grimmauld Place so badly. Instead, he settled for spending hours in his own thoughts before finally eating something and then going to bed for a very restless sleep. All he could think about was Astoria sitting in a cell, wearing rags with dozens of Dementors floating past, draining the happiness out of her soul.

The next morning, Draco woke early and felt immensely tired. He ate little for breakfast and got dressed, choosing one of his best set of robes for the occasion. Despite everything, he had an image to maintain for the time being. He needed to keep people on his side, if not on Astoria's.

The fireplace soon flared up and Lucius strode out of it, already waving his wand and cleaning the soot off his robes.

"The Dark Lord requires your presence," Lucius said formally, though there was something softer behind his words.

"Best not to keep him waiting," Draco said darkly. Lucius raised his eyebrows.

"You seem to have changed your tune from yesterday," he said. Draco looked at his father and said nothing. His father nodded. "I'm glad you have come to your senses."

Without saying another word, Draco took some Floo powder and went to the Ministry, followed closely by his father who also did not speak. As they walked to the Minister's Office, Draco did not fail to notice that a few people, mostly those who were more notably higher up in the Ministry, giving him some odd looks. It didn't surprise him, but he was not used to these kinds of looks. Being a Malfoy, he was used to people looking at him, but this was entirely different and mostly foreign to him. Even at Hogwarts he wasn't looked at in this way. It was as if these people were trying to work out what his role in all of this was. All Draco did was sneer at them as he passed and, for the most part, they looked away. It was the ones who didn't look away that made Draco's sneer falter slightly.

When they finally came upon the Minister's office, Lucius pushed open the door and walked in before Draco who breathed deeply, steeling himself for what he knew he had to do. He finally stepped into the room and was greeted with a sight almost identical to the meeting the day before, except that Lockhart was holding Astoria by the arm. She was not, as Draco had imagined, dressed in rags. She was actually wearing the same clothes as she had been when she was captured. She looked tired and frightened, however, and Draco longed to take her into his arms and comfort her. Instead, he settled on watching her emotionlessly.

When Astoria caught sight of him she broke free of Lockhart and ran towards him. When no one moved to stop her, Draco knew that it was one of the Dark Lord's tests. He watched his wife as she crashed into him, arms locked around his waist. He did nothing but stand still for a moment.

"Get off me," he finally said evenly. When she looked up at him, Draco could see pain on her face for a second before she apparently realised what was happening and he saw a flicker cross her face. Draco was pleased that his wife was smarter than he was. "I said get _off_." This time Draco shoved her aside. She tripped over her own feet and fell backwards to the ground where she sat with a shocked expression on her face.

"Draco?" she said meekly. "Draco, you cannot believe that I did these things. Surely you cannot."

"The Dark Lord believes that you have, and his word is good enough for me," Draco said tonelessly. "It has always been that way. I had once thought you to be of the same belief."

"I am," Astoria said, getting back to her feet. Draco did not take his eyes off of her, but he knew the whole room was watching the two intently. He could feel it. He had to play his cards exactly right. "I am as loyal as ever."

"Loyal and yet you utilise magic on Muggles?" Draco spat. "Do not deny it. We have witnesses."

"He – he was mistaken, my love," Astoria said, tears now coming to her eyes. "I would never do such a thing. There were no Muggles."

"He saw them," Draco said flatly. "He knew they were there and you were to take care of them. Instead, they were seen utilising a Portkey."

"I didn't," Astoria pleaded, reaching for Draco's arm. "There were no Muggles."

"Stop lying!" Draco exploded and the back of his right hand impacted with Astoria's cheek, sending her falling back to the carpeted floor. Draco felt his stomach wrench as he did it, but he knew it was necessary.

"Draco …" Astoria said, sitting on the floor and touching her face, which was slowly reddening.

"Your actions indicate betrayal," Draco said harshly, flexing the fingers of his right hand, which was stinging from the impact with his wife's face. "Betrayal of the Ministry. Betrayal of the Dark Lord. Betrayal of me. I feel a fool for not seeing it earlier. My mother saw it, but you managed to worm your way into my heart. I see now that you are nothing but Muggle-loving scum. Once you are sentenced, and I have no doubt that you will be, I intend to get a divorce to end this sham of a marriage and marry a proper woman. A woman who is loyal. A woman who knows the rightful place of magic in the world. A woman who will bear me children who would not be tainted by your traitorous heart."

Astoria was now weeping openly on the floor as Draco spared her one last look before looking towards the Dark Lord as Lockhart sombrely approached his wife slowly and cautiously.

"Forgive me, My Lord, but I have no wish to remain in her presence any longer," Draco spoke formally towards a man who deserved no formalities. As Lockhart roughly pulled a weeping Astoria to her feet and walked her to stand next to the throne, Draco stared into the red eyes of the man he had learned to hate.

"It pleases me to know that you have not forgotten the vow you made when I gave you the Dark Mark, Draco," the Dark Lord finally said, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. "Nothing is more sacred than the Dark Mark. Nothing. You know this. You are dismissed."

"My Lord," Draco began softly, glaring at his wife. "I am aware of the importance of my house being observed, however I want nothing more to do with this any further."

"I cannot see any reason as to why we should continue to monitor you any further," the Dark Lord said, motioning to Yaxley who nodded and exited the room, parchment already in hand. Draco thought that the Dark Lord must be in a particularly good mood, as he could not imagine that working at any other time. "The moment you return home, all surveillance charms will be lifted."

"Many thanks, My Lord," Draco said, bowing his head towards the Dark Lord. As he lifted his head once more, he looked to Astoria who was looking at him with a pained look on her face. For one fearful moment, Draco thought he had gone too far. In an instant it was gone and Draco turned and exited through the Minister's door. Not wanting to talk to his parents, Draco walked quickly through the Ministry, keeping his face angry, garnering odd looks from passers-by. _They'll know soon enough_, Draco thought to himself, bitterly.

When Draco arrived at Spinner's End, he could tell that the Dark Lord was true to his word. It was a small thing, but the house felt different and Draco knew that it was the lack of surveillance. He took some Floo powder in his hands and soon walked through the fireplace at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

He told everyone present, which was most of the people he knew that had survived in the Muggle world, about what had been happening with Astoria.

"You aren't intending to let her stay in Azkaban, surely?" Ginny asked.

"No," Draco admitted. "I have a plan."

"I hope it's a damn good one," Alastor Moody grumbled. Draco had yet to discover how a supposed dead man was with them, but trusted those at Grimmauld Place enough not to question it at the moment.

"Frankly, it's not a great one," Draco said bluntly. "I've said before that we needed more to gain before we made a move. I think this is it."

"Astoria?" Hermione asked. Draco shook his head.

"Not just her," he clarified. "Certainly, Astoria is a large part of it, but I think we can get much more out of this as well."

"What about Teddy Lupin?" Bill asked. Draco saw Dennis Creevey sitting next to the Muggle Draco couldn't remember the name of. Dennis flinched and in a second, there was a flash of fire and a great bird was perched on his shoulder.

"Merlin," Draco breathed. "Is that a Phoenix?"

"Yes, it is," Bill said quickly. Draco could hardly take his eyes off the bird which was staring into his eyes. It seemed familiar somehow. "We'll tell you about that later. We need to know about Teddy."

"We've got an informant or two at the Ministry," Moody growled. "We've been told that the boy is being held in Azkaban as well. There are also some less than pleasant reports about that as well."

"I knew nothing about any boy in Azkaban," Draco said truthfully. "We can work him into the plan, I think."

"Dangerous plan then, I assume?" Charlie asked. Moody snorted.

The next day, as it was nearing three-thiry, Draco's fireplace flared up and he watched his father stroll out of it, already cleaning himself off.

"If this is about Astoria, I don't want to know," Draco said exasperatedly. His parents had paid him a visit the previous night, but Draco made them leave after they would not stop talking about the day's events.

"This is something else," Lucius replied. "The Dark Lord is overseeing a public execution this afternoon."

"Who is it?" Draco asked flatly.

"Does it much matter?" Lucius asked with a smile. "I do believe that you know them, however. I seem to remember you playing Quidditch against them years ago." Draco smirked.

Soon he and his father were walking through a sea of people who had parted to let them through. They quickly found his mother and joined her, looking towards the great fountain in front of them. Draco looked around and spotted Blaise and Daphne Zabini. Blaise was smiling and chatting to Theodore Nott next to him, but Daphne seemed to be glaring daggers at him. Draco did not change his blank expression and looked back towards the fountain just as three figures were lead in, hoods obscuring their faces. At the back of the procession, which included Macnair, was Gilderoy Lockhart who was dressed in a light pink, with blue velvet lining his robes here and there. He was holding four wands in his hands, undoubtedly his own as well as those of the three to be executed.

When the three were forced to their knees, their hoods were removed to show Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell, all looking at the crowd in defiance. Draco could almost see the fire in their eyes and, for the first time in his life, truly understood what a Gryffindor truly was.

As the crowd murmured loudly, the three looked outwards, never sparing a glance at Draco at all. One hand in the pocket of his robes, Draco tightened his fingers around his wand as his hands were sweaty. His heart was beating in his chest, almost as if it were going to explode at any moment.

Draco began to feel anxious as a lot of doubt suddenly crept into his mind, however this was all replaced by fear as the Dark Lord appeared in a cloud of black, silencing the onlookers and finally creating a sense of fear on the face of the former Gryffindor Chasers. The Dark Lord spent a few moments staring at the three women and then turned to the crowd.

"Treachery and stupidity go hand in hand in our world, it seems," he said, his voice carrying through the entire Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. "The women who kneel before me were thought to be dead. Burned to an utter crisp in the Great Hall years ago. This was not so, it seems. Their treachery came at not accepting myself as their leader. In fact, they spent the last years of their lives deep in the Muggle world if they are to be believed. Treachery!

"Their stupidity came from their acts today," he continued as the room looked on, rapt. "They thought themselves better than the Ministry. They believed that they could take us on. Gryffindor stupidity. Now, they kneel before their Lord in their final moments with no solace except that I will kill them swiftly to erase their abhorrent existence from our world as soon as possible."

The Dark Lord turned to the three women, who were now looking defiant again. Draco thought he saw Katie's eyes flicker to him for a moment. Draco drew out his wand and was sure that no one else saw him do so. His hand had been shaking, but was still as the Dark Lord raised his wand, pointing it at Angelina first.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Draco said more quickly than he ever had before. The red bolt hit the Dark Lord and his wand went soaring through the air. Draco silently summoned it to himself and when he caught it, he saw Lockhart quickly handing each of the girls their wands. Draco reached to the pendant around his neck before anyone else could react. "_Fawkes_."

Draco felt a pull at his navel and saw the world around him spin. Soon he landed on the ground in front of Grimmauld Place, looking up at the Ancestral Black home. _That's just the beginning_.


	23. Getting Captured

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 23**_

_**Rescue Mission II: Getting Captured**_

"_If you risk nothing, then you risk everything._"  
\- Geena Davis

_**Angelina Johnson**_

_**4th January, 2004**_

Angelina handed the glass of water over to Charlie Weasley who was standing next to her in the kitchen of her house. It was one of the rare days that none of the three women were working, and they all stood with Charlie and Luna in the kitchen, listening intently as Charlie explained what had happened the previous day. Angelina and Alicia had not quite gotten over their argument from a week before, but both were listening and Alicia didn't seem to show any signs of anger or annoyance. Angelina took some solace in the fact that Alicia didn't immediately turn Charlie and Luna away.

"All of that happened in one day?" Angelina asked incredulously. "That's kind of incredible."

"I'll say," Charlie said, drinking from the glass. "It's lit a fire under most of our arses now. It's bad enough that Astoria's been captured, but Teddy Lupin? Merlin, he's a child!"

"Is he really in Azkaban?" Alicia asked sceptically. Behind the scepticism, Angelina knew there was fear and concern for the poor boy.

"That's what Mad-Eye's people are telling him, yeah," Charlie replied sombrely. "The worst part is, there are apparently some rumours among the inner circle that You-Know-Who is torturing the kid for information. About Dolores Umbridge of all people!"

"Wait, what?" Angelina asked, shocked. "What's Umbridge got to do with it?"

"She turned on the Ministry ages ago," Luna replied as Charlie was in the middle of swallowing. "We read about it. Now Dennis has told us that she was the one to give him Teddy Lupin. We don't know much other than that. Dennis hasn't been very talkative."

"I don't blame him," Katie said darkly. Angelina nodded her agreement.

"He's actually doing much better than you might think," Luna said brightly, causing Angelina's eyebrows to rise. "When he arrived at Grimmauld Place he just kind of broke down. Then a Phoenix appeared out of nowhere to comfort him."

"No way …" Alicia breathed. Angelina didn't know a lot about Phoenixes, but even she was somewhat surprised at that.

"It's true," Charlie said. "The bird's barely left Dennis since."

"I know a bit about Phoenixes, but why is this such big news?" Angelina asked. Alicia looked at her wide-eyed.

"He's been chosen as a Phoenix companion!" Alicia said excitedly.

"That's what Hermione said as well, actually," Charlie said with a smile. "She also rattled off a great deal of numbers and statistics that I don't remember but took _great_ interest in at the time."

"Chosen?" Katie asked. Alicia nodded.

"Most people are under the impression that wizards with Phoenixes, like Professor Dumbledore was, have the birds as pets like we do with owls, but that's not right," Alicia said. "In truth, a Phoenix chooses the witch or wizard they wish to accompany. I don't really know much about it except that the person chosen must have enormously good qualities. Hence, why Dumbledore was chosen."

"You're mostly right," Luna said serenely. Angelina was beginning to realise how big this might be. "Phoenixes don't see things like humans do. Phoenixes operate as strictly light creatures. There is no way that a Phoenix can ever be corrupted by the Dark, and they look for qualities like their own in a human. Albus Dumbledore, for many years, was the only Phoenix companion in Britain. Now, it appears that Dennis has the traits that Phoenixes value so very much in a person. It's rather astounding, really. Dennis was always nice, of course, but I don't think anyone would have predicted this."

"Why did it come to him now?" Katie asked suddenly. Alicia looked at her blankly, but Angelina thought that it was a good question. "Why not before?"

"There aren't very many records of Phoenixes choosing human companions," Luna explained as Angelina followed with great interest. "In fact, less than one percent of the entire Phoenix population will ever choose to spend any time with a human being. Of those people, there are some who won't discuss the choice in great detail. In most recorded cases, the Phoenix chose their companions during times of immense grief for the person involved. Most believe that this is because the Phoenix recognises the grief, but also what is driving the grief and they gain a greater understanding of who the person they are 'courting', so to speak, truly is."

"That makes sense," Angelina said slowly. She couldn't remember a lot about Dennis Creevey, but what she did remember didn't point in this direction. "How do you know all of this?"

"_The Quibbler_ often posted nonsense," Luna said with a bright smile, "but Daddy was no fool. Phoenixes were often talked about in _The Quibbler_. I liked them a lot."

"Anyway," Charlie said abruptly, apparently deciding that a change of topic was needed. "We've got a bit of a problem. We're all worried about what's going on right now, and none of us want to leave Astoria in Azkaban too long. We _certainly_ don't want Teddy there at all."

"Of course not," Katie said darkly, all traces of the former discussion now gone. "Bastards."

"You probably didn't know them too well, but most people at Grimmauld Place knew Tonks and Remus well," Charlie said. "Tonks was a friend of mine at Hogwarts, and a student of Mad-Eye's. Not to mention they were a major part of the Order. Their son is a very high priority for us right now. The thought that their son is captive in Azkaban is sickening. I don't think I've ever seen Mad-Eye as livid as he was when he found out."

"What are you going to do about it?" Angelina asked seriously. "You know we'll help whenever and however we can."

Angelina eyed Alicia as she was talking. It had been almost a week since the two women had argued about the futility of fighting the Ministry. There had been friction between the two over New Year's. Neither of them had apologised and Angelina had no intention of doing so. She saw in Alicia's eyes that something had changed. She suspected it was the idea of a child in Azkaban.

"You're damn right we will," Alicia said fiercely. "Bastards think they can torture a kid and get away with it? Not while I'm alive." Angelina smiled, happy to see her friend once again.

"That's great, but we can't do all that much right now," Charlie replied. "Draco's dealing with the whole Astoria thing, and I feel like we'll need him. Even Mad-Eye thinks so. Having a Malfoy on our side is probably the best thing we can hope for. Mad-Eye's people at the Ministry can only do so much."

"People?" Angelina asked, intrigued. "You mentioned them earlier. What people?"

"He won't tell us who they are," Charlie grumbled. "You'd think that we'd earned the right to know. Then again, I suppose I see his point. The less people that know who they are, the safer they will be. All we know is that there are three and that they're well-stationed within the Ministry."

"That's better than nothing," Angelina commented and Charlie nodded. "So we wait for Draco and then start working out what to do?"

"That's what we're planning," Charlie confirmed. As he spoke, an owl flew in through the open window of the kitchen and landed on the sink. Angelina looked at it for a moment before taking the envelope from the bird and taking out the parchment.

"It's from Draco," Angelina replied. "It seems as though his place is being watched. Best not go to him for the time being." She handed the letter to Charlie as the owl flew back out of the window. Charlie read it and nodded.

"Mad-Eye figured that would happen," Charlie confirmed. "Good to know for sure though."

"Just keep us posted, alright?" Angelina asked.

"Of course," Charlie said, smiling. "Actually, do you have time to come around tonight? It might be good for you to get to know the others a bit better."

"I start back at work tomorrow, so I've got stuff to do," Angelina said. "Otherwise I would. Actually, it's annoying because the kids start back on Tuesday which is the day of the Full Moon which means I have to take Wednesday off. It won't look good, but there's nothing for it, I suppose."

"By the way, Ginny told me to tell you that you can get the Wolfsbane whenever you have the time," Charlie said.

"I'll pop around after work tomorrow," Angelina confirmed.

"What about you two?" Charlie asked Katie and Alicia. Katie shook her head.

"I've got work tonight," she replied. "Otherwise I would."

"And I've got to sleep," Alicia said. "I'm so damn tired. But I'm not due to do anything tomorrow. Neither is Katie. We'll stop around tomorrow, how about that?"

"Sounds good," Charlie said, putting his glass on the counter. "I think we'll leave you ladies to it then. No doubt Mad-Eye wants to discuss things. In great detail. We haven't been able to tell him much since everything's been going on. And frankly I want to know more about what they've been up to as well."

"He seems very inquisitive," Angelina noted. Charlie chuckled.

"Paranoid more like," he said. "It's probably for the best, though. He's outlived a lot of people."

The next day was Angelina's first day back after the Christmas Holidays and it was rather dull. The school decided that the first day was just for the staff and not the students, and this was making the day somewhat boring for Angelina. Part of it was because she missed her class, but there was also an aspect of Angelina feeling as though she was on the outside of the teaching staff.

The majority of the staff were closer than Angelina had expected when she started working there, but she had found it difficult to become close with any of them. Most of them spent time with each other during their free time, so they were friends rather than colleagues. Angelina, however, did not do this. There was simply too much going on in her life to spend any time with any of the other teachers. It didn't help matters that she spent most of her first day back musing on Astoria and Teddy. Not to mention worrying over the fact that this group that she was now a part of might have to do something dangerous over the next few days. And on top of _that_ she was already starting to feel the effects of the transformation that wouldn't come until Tuesday night.

The day went by slowly with Angelina keeping to herself for the most part. A lot of the other teachers looked at her oddly over the course of the day, and Angelina couldn't blame them. She felt as though there was a weight on her that was almost visible.

When it finally came time to leave, Angelina locked her classroom door from the inside, made sure that no one was around and Apparated home. Angelina assumed that Katie and Alicia were at Grimmauld Place as there was no one home. She wasted no time in taking some Floo powder, throwing it into the fireplace and then leaving to Grimmauld Place to pick up the Wolfsbane Potion.

She arrived to the sound of the house buzzing with noise.

"Angelina!" Ginny said in some surprise as Angelina brushed herself off. "It's good that you're here."

"What's going on?" Angelina asked. In the sitting room she could see Bill talking closely with Alastor Moody who Angelina had not seen for years. Ginny was sitting with Hermione and Alicia.

"Draco couldn't help Astoria," Alicia told her. "So we've come up with a plan."

"We've just finished discussing it, actually," Hermione said.

"It's positively insane," Ginny said, shaking her head. "The problem is, we can't really do anything else.

"Well, what's the plan?" Angelina asked, sitting down on the sturdy coffee table opposite the three other women.

"Who's that?" a gravelly voice asked quickly.

"She's one of us," Bill said quickly. "It's Angelina Johnson. She used to play Quidditch with my brothers."

"Most of them at any rate," Angelina said with a chuckle. "It was only Percy and you I didn't have the privilege to play with."

"You three filling her in then?" Moody asked the three women.

"Just about to," Ginny confirmed. Moody's magical eye swivelled to Angelina and then swiftly away again as he nodded and continued his talk with Bill. "That went well."

"So, this plan?" Angelina asked. There was a mixture of apprehension and excitement as she awaited the plan.

"I hope you don't mind, but Katie and I already agreed to your part," Alicia said and Angelina nodded.

"I'll do whatever needs to be done," she said firmly.

"Good to hear, because this is going to sound insane," Ginny put in. "We want you three to be captured by the Ministry."

"What now?" Angelina asked after a moment. "How exactly does that help?"

"Well, part of the plan is to create a distraction," Hermione explained in the voice she used for such occasions when she felt the need to explain something. Which was often enough. "You, Alicia and Katie are going to be the first part of that."

"By being executed?" Angelina asked incredulously. In truth, she knew that they wouldn't do that to her, but she didn't see what good it would do to have them incapacitated in such a way.

"Of course not," Ginny said quickly. "Draco's going to help you from the crowd. He plans on disarming You-Know-Who before he can act."

"I can see a few holes in that," Angelina said sarcastically. "First of all, how do we even know that You-Know-Who will be there. He doesn't always do the executions, does he?"

"Well, no," Hermione admitted. "But Draco is almost certain that he will do it. Three former Gryffindor students who were thought to be dead and were hiding for years? Draco thinks, and I tend to agree, that he will want to do this one himself."

"Okay," Angelina said slowly. "What about Draco? How do we know that he can even disarm You-Know-Who?"

"It won't be a one-on-one duel," Hermione said. "Draco intends to do it when You-Know-Who's back is turned and when he is highly distracted."

"And what if he fails?" Angelina asked. "Hell, what if he succeeds? How do we get out of it alive?"

"One of Mad-Eye's contacts will get you out," Ginny said. "He's assured us that this person will be there and will have access to everything necessary to get you out of there."

"Regardless if Draco succeeds or fails, then the focus will be taken away from you and Alastor's contact will give you a Portkey to this house," Hermione continued. "Trust me, I know that there are so many things that can go wrong here."

"I'll say," Angelina said.

"You know, Angie," Alicia said suddenly, "it wasn't all that long ago that you were lecturing me on your willingness to do whatever you had to do. I do believe you even said that dying for this would be worth it."

"I know," Angelina said with a sigh. "Don't get me wrong, I'm going to do it. I just want to know that there is some kind of safety net there."

"As I said, it's insane," Ginny said wryly.

"What about our wands?" Angelina asked.

"Alastor's guy will handle that as well," Hermione said. Angelina nodded.

"So we go in, get captured, Draco saves us and we Portkey back here?" Angelina asked, receiving three nods. "All in the name of distraction?"

"Mostly, yes," Hermione said. "There's another reason, though. We believe that You-Know-Who's wand is the Elder Wand. The most powerful wand in existence."

"The one from the kid's story?" Angelina asked.

"Apparently there's quite a bit of truth to that particular story," Ginny remarked. "At least, Harry and You-Know-Who believe so."

"It doesn't really matter," Hermione said. "If we can get his wand from him, regardless of if it's the Elder Wand or not, that will cause him distress. If it is the Elder Wand, that is a bonus."

"I guess so," Angelina replied, sighing. "What happens when we get back here?"

Angelina listened as the rest of the plan was explained to her by the three women on the couch. Angelina could see why people might see the plan as completely mental, but at the same time she thought there was a genius to it. She couldn't help but think that it may actually work. At the very least, by the end of the discussion, Angelina was feeling much more confident about not only her own chances, but the chances of everyone involved.

Due to her getting caught up in the plan, Angelina didn't even realise until she returned home that there were some rather annoying flaws pertaining to her part. Not only was she meant to be teaching the following day, when she was also meant to be getting caught by the Ministry, but it was also the day of the Full Moon. Both, Angelina reasoned, extremely problematic.

Before going to bed, she took out a box that she had long hidden away and rarely ever touched. After going into hiding, Angelina had returned to her apartment only once before leaving it for good. She simply vanished most of her furniture, but kept the things that meant the most to her. One of these things was the one remaining Skiving Snackbox that she had. She had never used them at Hogwarts, except in Umbridge's classes from time to time, but she kept them nonetheless. Before this moment, she had had no reason to utilise the sweets, but realised that it was the only way she could get out of work the following day.

The next morning she awoke bright and early, showered and got prepared for the day's work. She told Katie and Alicia, who were awake uncharacteristically early, that she wouldn't be long and made sure that she had the Skiving Snackbox in her handbag. Within moments she was at the school. Within an hour of her arrival, it was time for the first class of the year that she would hardly be involved in.

Angelina truly wished that she didn't have to leave early. Seeing all of her students back and in seemingly good health, made her feel overjoyed. In fact, most of them seemed extremely happy to see her again, and some even said so.

For the first half-hour of class, everything went as smoothly as Angelina could have hoped for, being the first class back. It was at this point, while the kids were all working, that Angelina decided to take out the Fever Fudge and bit into it. Almost immediately after eating it, Angelina felt herself begin to heat up. After a few moments, she began to shake slightly as well.

"Are you okay Miss Johnson?" Sara Price asked after a moment.

"I don't think I am," Angelina said, surprised at how unwell she genuinely sounded. "Matt, I need you to go to the Office and tell them that I'm not well. Can you do that?"

Matt stood up immediately and nodded before rushing out of the door. Angelina nearly laughed at the sight. Minutes later, after assuring the rest of the class that she would be fine, the Deputy Headmaster appeared in the room.

"I think it might be best for you to go home, Miss Johnson," he said after a quick discussion. "It's clear that you need it. I'll find someone to take your class. Until then, I'll look in on them."

"If you say so," Angelina said. "That folder has my plans for the day in them."

"I'll follow that," the Deputy Headmaster said. Angelina nodded and turned to the class.

"I'll see you in a few days when I'm better," she told them. "I don't want to hear that you've been bad for whoever is teaching, okay? And I'll know."

"Yes, Miss Johnson," the class chorused and Angelina chuckled before walking out of the door. She quickly walked out of the school and found that the area was deserted, so she Apparated back to her home where she took the antidote to the Fever Fudge and returned to normal almost instantaneously.

"It went well I take it?" Alicia asked as Angelina felt her body go back to normal.

"I hate leaving the kids, but yeah it went fine," Angelina said. "This is more important right now."

"You'll see them soon enough," Katie said. "Anyway, Hermione came over not long ago. They want to go back over the plan with us before we head off to the Ministry. We'll head there first and then it's time to be captured."

Angelina felt her stomach tighten.

When they arrived at Grimmauld Place, they found everyone who was to be involved in the plan, with the exception of Draco who, Hermione informed them, was making sure that he was at home when he needed to be. Angelina's eye was drawn to Dennis Creevey, sitting at the opposite end of the gigantic table, a wonderfully beautiful bird perched on his shoulder. Both Dennis and the Phoenix looked sombre, and yet somewhat calm. Angelina would likely not have recognised Dennis had she not heard about the Phoenix. He had grown up and was much less like his brother Colin who, when Angelina last saw him, looked almost the same as he had when she first met him.

When they all went through the plan once again, Angelina spoke up.

"I was thinking about something," she said when there was a lull in discussion. All eyes fell on her as she looked towards where Bill and Moody were sitting next to each other. "I want to go with you."

"You think you're up to it?" Moody grumbled. "It won't be pleasant, you know."

"I gathered," Angelina said. "The reason I'm suggesting it is that it's the Full Moon tonight. And moonrise is sometime before four. I could be an asset."

"She's right," Bill told Moody. Based on his lack of any kind of reaction, Angelina figured that he had been told about Greyback. She also vaguely wondered what he thought of Matt. "We appreciate it Angelina, but for now just focus on what you already have to do. We'll decide later."

"Whatever you say," Angelina said, nodding.

"Anything else?" Moody asked after a moment.

"I'm going with you," Dennis said, looking directly at Moody. There was a dark tone in Dennis' voice and the Phoenix on his shoulder looked up as Dennis spoke. "Teddy's there. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I just sat here and did nothing."

"That bird of yours coming with you?" Moody growled. Dennis looked at the Phoenix and shook his head.

"He says no," Dennis confirmed. "It'll just be me."

"And you can handle yourself?" Moody asked.

"Well enough," Dennis replied. "Look, it doesn't matter. I'm going."

"Fair enough," Moody finally replied. "Don't drag us down."

"I won't," Dennis said firmly and the Phoenix on his shoulder trilled lightly, seeping into Angelina's mind and calming her like nothing she had ever felt.

"Anything else?" Moody asked. When no one replied he roughly got to his feet, his chair scraping the ground as he did so. "Right then. You three, off to the Ministry. Get yourselves captured. We'll see you soon."

In what appeared to be a blur, everyone wished Angelina, Katie and Alicia good luck with their mission, with Luna being the most ardent well-wisher, hugging each of them tightly. Soon they were walking out the front door of Number Twelve, stepping into the fresh air. As they did, Angelina took one of their hands in each of hers. In a flash, the trio were standing outside of the abandoned red phone box that was used for the visitor's entrance to the Ministry of Magic. Angelina had used this entrance a few times, so she was familiar with its workings. The three of them entered into the phone booth, which was on a surprisingly empty street, and Angelina promptly dialled '62442'. When she did so, a voice spoke to them, as though in the phone booth with them.

"State your name and business," the voice said. It had changed since Angelina had last used the entrance. It used to be a woman's voice. Now it was a male voice. A harsh male voice that didn't seem very friendly.

"Angelina Johnson," Angelina replied shakily. "I'm here to take over the Ministry."

"I'm Katie Bell, and I'm here for the same reason," Katie said in a more confident tone than Angelina.

"Alicia Spinnet," Alicia said, obviously trying to sound confident. "I'm with them."

Three silver badges popped out of the phone box which Angelina picked up and gave to the others. Hers read 'Angelina Johnson, Traitor'. She noticed that all of them said 'Traitor'.

Instead of what usually happened, Angelina felt as though something was tightening around her and within seconds she was pressed closer to Alicia and Katie, as though bound by a rope that didn't exist. An alarm bell was ringing in the phone box as it started to descend slowly.

"I can't move," Alicia said, panicked.

"Moody said this might happen," Katie pointed out. "The Ministry would have new things in place."

"Look," Angelina said just as Alicia was about to retort. The alarm was getting louder and louder as they descended further into the ground. "This is what we came for, isn't it? If anything this makes it easier."

"_Easier_?" Alicia said, struggling futilely. "We can't defend ourselves!"

"Which means they're more likely to capture us rather than kill us," Angelina said just as the lift stopped moving and the alarm reached its loudest. All three women fell silent as the doors slid open to reveal six men in Auror robes, none of whom Angelina recognised.

"Thought you could get past us?" a middle-aged man with greying brown hair growled. "Stupid bitches. We've had this one watched for years."

"Just get 'em and take 'em to the cells," a second man with bad teeth said.

"Do we alert the Dark Lord?" the first man asked.

"That might be prudent," a third voice said as they strolled into view. In a light pink robe with blue velvet lining, Gilderoy Lockhart showed his face. Angelina couldn't help but scowl at him. "It appears that the dead walk today."

It was not a pleasant trip to the cells of the Ministry of Magic, as they were forcibly dragged to them. Angelina figured that this was more to show off to the public than anything else, as there were surely better ways to transport people. When they got to the cells, the three of them were tossed into one together and Lockhart followed, along with two of the aurors who were glaring menacingly at the women, as if daring them to try something.

Much to Angelina's disgust, Lockhart's job was apparently to frisk them for anything they might have on them. Luckily, all they had was their wands and so nothing else was taken. As Lockhart left, he was stopped by another Auror who whispered into his ear. Lockhart nodded and turned back to the barred cell.

"The Dark Lord is on his way," he said with a smile. Angelina's stomach turned. They had expected this, but Lockhart looking so pleased sickened her. Soon all of the Aurors and Lockhart were gone, leaving the three women alone in their cell.

"Not long now, then," Katie said brightly.

"Here's hoping everything goes well," Alicia said quietly. Her voice was shaky.

"It has to," Angelina said finally. No one said anything else.

Half an hour later, the cell door was opened up, and the most monstrous sight that Angelina had ever beheld stood in front of her. There was no other person it could be.

"Ladies," Voldemort said by way of greeting, his face emotionless. "I must admit, this is something of a surprise. You three are listed as dead."

"Faulty list, I suppose," Angelina said, keeping her voice level despite everything. Voldemort turned his eyes to her.

"So it would seem," he replied. "What were you three doing coming to the Ministry today? What did you hope to achieve?"

"Surely you read our badges," Katie said. "We came to take the Ministry." Voldemort chuckled. A sickening sound.

"A brave sentiment to be sure," he said. "Foolish, yet brave. I would expect nothing less of Dumbledore's prized Gryffindor House. I am given to understand that you all knew Harry Potter quite well. Were you hoping to finish what he failed? The three of you against the might of the Ministry? That foolish plot is worthy of Harry himself."

"Shut up about Harry!" Alicia snapped.

"_Crucio_!" Voldemort cried, pointing his wand at Alicia, who fell to the floor and screamed in agony. For over ten seconds, Voldemort kept the spell on her. Finally he relented and Alicia stopped screaming. "Foolish girl.

"I cannot help but wonder what you truly hoped to achieve today," Voldemort continued. "You could not be so arrogant as to think you could take the Ministry."

"Maybe we're just sick of sitting idly by while you ruin people's lives," Katie said fervently. "We hid for so long. It's about time we fought back."

"A noble sentiment to be sure," Voldemort replied. Angelina almost breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't curse Katie. "So you have a death wish, then? I can think of no other reason for this stupid attempt."

"We do have a death wish," Angelina said quietly as Alicia slowly and shakily sat up. "Just not our own."

"_Crucio_!" Voldemort cried and Angelina braced herself. It never came, and Alicia once again started to scream.

"Stop!" Angelina cried out after more than ten seconds had passed. "Please!" Voldemort cut the spell off and Alicia's screams quietened down. Voldemort looked directly into Angelina's eyes.

As he did so, Angelina felt images coming to the forefront of her mind. This, too, was something they had expected. When they left Grimmauld Place, Moody had performed some magic on them and Ginny had given them a potion. They were not sure that it would work, but it was all they could do.

The images flashed by so quickly that Angelina barely had time to register them. She saw Hogwarts, then the Quidditch Pitch, then Fred, then Harry catching the Snitch, then Wood crying. She saw the motel where she, Alicia and Katie had stayed. She saw Wood meet with them. She saw her get rid of everything in her apartment. She saw one of her University classrooms.

As quickly as it had begun, it stopped.

Voldemort looked at her for a moment before turning to Katie. Angelina watched as he clearly did the same thing to her. Angelina couldn't see what she was seeing, but she desperately hoped that no incriminating images would come to the fore. After half a minute, he was done. By this time, Alicia was sitting on the floor. He did the same to her. Everything was quiet as he did so. When he was finished, he said nothing and exited the cell, the Auror closing the cell door as he did. Before he left, he turned back to them.

"You die today," he said simply. "You are of no use to me. For your treachery, you will die at my hand."

Voldemort turned and left the cell area, leaving the Auror at the door. Angelina and Katie rushed to Alicia who was sitting and shaking on the floor.

"Th … that was h-h-h-horrible," she said as Angelina hugged her. Nothing else was spoken between the three of them for the next two hours.

They knew what was to happen when a procession of Aurors, led once again by Lockhart, arrived at their cell. The trio were grabbed roughly by the Aurors and dragged out. Angelina noticed their wands in Lockhart's hands. She wondered how Moody's guy would get a hold of them.

The walk to the atrium was the longest walk of Angelina's life. She had never been so terrified in all her life. She mused to herself that it may have been easier if she was, in fact, going to her death. As it was, there was more going on, and more that could go wrong. If everything went to hell, there was no doubt there was more torture in store for the trio. Especially if the Ministry believe them to be working with Draco.

As they were walked down the empty halls of the Ministry of Magic, all that went through Angelina's mind was the thought that everything would go wrong. She seemed to envision everything that could possibly go wrong, and with each thought she became more and more panicked.

Just before the entrance to the Atrium, the procession was stopped. Angelina looked around and saw her best friend's faces. They were terrified as well. Then the bag was placed over her head, and she knew nothing but blackness. Soon after, the procession started again.

When they entered the Atrium, Angelina could tell from the murmuring of so many voices. She felt herself guided by an Auror away from the rest of the procession and felt the Auror kick the back of her knees and push her shoulders down. Her knees hit the stone floor painfully, but Angelina made no noise. It was as the hood was removed from her head, that Angelina felt her Gryffindor courage again. She looked out at the crowd, most of whom were wearing looks of disdain and outright hatred. Out of the corner of her eye, Angelina saw Draco standing with his parents. She didn't dare look directly at him. She knew that Alicia and Katie were next to her, even without being able to see them.

Suddenly a swirl of black smoke appeared in front of Angelina, and out of it came Voldemort, more menacing than he had seemed in the cell. He looked directly at them for a few moments, as if assessing their fear, before turning back to the crowd.

"Treachery and stupidity go hand in hand in our world, it seems," Voldemort said, his slightly high-pitched voice carrying through the entire Atrium of the Ministry of Magic, silencing all that stood in front of him. "The women who kneel before me were thought to be dead. Burned to an utter crisp in the Great Hall years ago. This was not so, it seems. Their treachery came at not accepting myself as their leader. In fact, they spent the last years of their lives deep in the Muggle world if they are to be believed. Treachery!

"Their stupidity came from their acts today," he continued as the entire room looked on, seeming to be hanging on his every word. "They thought themselves better than the Ministry. They believed that they could take us on. Gryffindor stupidity. Now, they kneel before their Lord in their final moments with no solace except that I will kill them swiftly to erase their abhorrent existence from our world as soon as possible."

Voldemort turned back towards Angelina, Katie and Alicia. Angelina looked at him, her eyes blazing and hatred exuding from every pore in her body. Voldemort raised his wand slowly, as if savouring the moment. Angelina could tell that she was to be first. She didn't even blink.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Draco yelled out from the crowd and, before Voldemort could react, a red bolt hit him in the back. The wand in his hand flew into the air and into Draco's general direction.

Angelina looked to her left where she saw Lockhart quickly handing Katie and Alicia their wands, whispering something in their ears. When he got to Angelina, she took her wand and listened carefully.

"Portkey," Lockhart said simply. "Say 'Moody'."

"Moody," Angelina said as she grasped her wand tight in her hand. She felt a tug at her navel, and she knew she was no longer in the atrium. She finally came to a stop on the ground outside of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. She found herself sprawled on her back next to Alicia and Katie. She felt someone grab a hold of her hand.

"Come on," Draco said as he pulled Angelina to her feet. She was a little dizzy from the Portkey, but she stood firmly and helped Alicia up just as Draco helped up Katie. Angelina put Alicia's arm around her shoulders, as she was still affected by the Cruciatus as well as the Portkey. They all made their way into Number Twelve and were greeted by Ginny, Charlie, Moody and Hestia, all of whom were holding broomsticks in their hands.

"Everything go okay?" Moody asked. Angelina nodded.

"Alicia is still feeling the effects of two Cruciatus curses from a few hours ago," Angelina said. "Other than that, it worked like a charm."

"Kreacher," Ginny said and with a crack, the House Elf appeared. "Take Alicia upstairs and bring her the sleeping potion. Give her about half a dose. That should be enough for now."

"Kreacher will do as he is told," Kreacher replied, taking Alicia's hand. Angelina felt Alicia disappear next to her as she walked further into the house to allow Katie and Draco further passage.

"Bit of a change of plans," Moody said suddenly. "Since you offered to go with me and Bill, I'm going to go with this lot first and meet up with you, Bill and Creevey later. You'll be fine for a while on your own. I've taken Bill through it."

"At great length, no doubt," Hestia said with a laugh.

"Damn right I did," Moody grumbled. "Tell Granger, Lovegood and Dedalus that they're to leave now. We're off."

"Will do," Angelina said. Within seconds, Ginny, Charlie, Hestia and Moody were gone. Angelina turned to Katie. "I'm going with Bill and Dennis. You stay here with Alicia."

"It's almost moonrise, isn't it?" Katie asked. Angelina nodded.

"I can feel it," she said, only just then realising that she could. "Draco, tell Bill that I'm going into my usual room to change. I've had the Wolfsbane, so I'm no danger to anyone."

"Will do," Draco said. He moved off into the living room as Katie and Angelina made their way upstairs. Katie hugged Angelina before she entered into her transformation room.

"Good luck," she said quietly. "Promise me you'll come back."

"Of course I will," Angelina said, hugging Katie tighter than she ever had before. "You just take care of Alicia, alright?" Katie nodded and Angelina entered into the room. Just in time, Angelina was able to strip out of her clothes. She transformed into the wolf more easily than the first time she had done. In fact, it seemed somehow different. Her mind was more present this time. Just as she was about to howl for someone to let her out, the door opened and Bill stood there, fearless.

"You sure you're up to this?" he asked. Angelina nodded as well as she could in her wolf form. "Right then. We'll want to go. Moody rigged up a broom so that you can sit underneath me as I fly it."

Angelina wasn't so sure about that bit.


	24. Lists and Quills

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 24**_

_**Rescue Mission III: Lists and Quills**_

"_Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night._"  
\- Edgar Allan Poe ("Ealeonora")

_**Luna Lovegood**_

_**6th January, 2004**_

Ever since learning what the Sight was, Luna had been thoroughly intrigued. There was a suspicious, niggling feeling in the back of her mind that it had something to do with her and, looking back on it, Luna could see that it stood to reason that someone who did actually have the Sight would feel that way their whole life.

In fact, Luna had begun to speculate that it might have been her latent abilities that made her act the way she did. She had always felt a deeper connection to the world, and this manifested itself in ways that most had deemed "weird" or, in fact, "loony". Despite the fact that the Sight itself may have been one of the causes of her becoming an outcast, she didn't feel any residual hatred towards it. She had never felt particularly annoyed at being an outcast anyway. At least now she had a reason.

When she was finally allowed to, Luna had taken Divination at Hogwarts and found it an odd class at best. Luna was drawn to batty Professor Trelawney as there was something about her that Luna felt was similar to her. However, Luna's good marks in the subject seemed to pique Professor Trelawney's interests to the point where she deliberately distanced herself from Luna entirely.

Until very recently, Luna had felt hurt by the distancing of the Divination Professor, but recently she read in a book that Seers often don't get along with each other. It was, for a lot of Seers, a sense of pride that they had the Sight, something that they did not wish to compete with anyone else for. Another Seer was dangerous to their own reputation. Trelawney, Luna suspected, noticed the abilities in Luna and hated her for it. Just as everyone else had done.

Luna did not understand the sense of pride that came over a lot of Seers, Trelawney included. Luna's first visions nearly two months ago had created mixed emotions within her. At the time she didn't really know what to make of most that she saw and longed to discuss it with someone else, yet she knew that it was impossible to do so. The best that Luna could do was write down what she had seen in a diary that she had Fleur charm to only open when Luna wished it to. Luna often reread the things that she had Seen that day at Shell Cottage. Every time she looked at it, she felt a deep sense of dread that appeared to increase every time, as though the words themselves were creeping up on her, getting ever closer and closer to finally becoming reality. The problem was that Luna had no idea what this "reality" was going to be.

The day that their plan was set into motion, when Angelina, Alicia and Katie were gone, presumably captured, and Draco was nowhere to be seen, Luna took out the diary and locked the door to her room. She read over the list again.

_FRAME 1: Symbol of the Deathly Hallows_

_FRAME 2: Hooded man wearing a bandana with a burned hand_

_ROOM 1: A serene palace. Agonising shriek. Palace disappeared, leaving only green. Blood fell in front of my face, followed by flesh._

_FRAME 3: Moving painting of Hogwarts with students. Unidentified signature._

_ROOM 2: A man being tortured (?) by You-Know-Who._

_FRAME 4: Still image of the Department of Mysteries entrance with a red circle around it._

_ROOM 3: Angelina, Alicia and Katie waiting to be executed by You-Know-Who himself._

_FRAME 5: Muggle painting, similar to Colin Creevey's picture of the DA. I noticed some people, not all. In the Great Hall of Hogwarts. People looked older than they should. Faces started to fade away._

Luna read over the list seven times, as she always did. She had crossed out "ROOM 1" as she had come to realise that it was the events at Beauxbatons on Christmas Day that she had seen. The palace had been Beauxbatons. The shriek was Fleur's. The blood was Lucius Malfoy's, the flesh both his and Voldemort's. The green was for the Killing Curse.

The moment that Luna had put all of that together, she felt as though she wanted to die. She locked herself in her room and cried harder than she had in years. All she could think about was that she had Seen that this was to happen, and couldn't stop it. Fleur died, and Luna _knew_ it would happen. She had _Seen_ it. For hours, all Luna could think about was ways that she could have prevented it from happening. A hundred things ran through her mind as she lay staring at the ceiling above.

It had taken her the better part of a day, but Luna finally calmed down and reasoned with herself that she could have done nothing. _Even if I could have, I didn't know it would be Fleur_, Luna had thought to herself. She was not quite getting cheerful, but she was beginning to stop blaming herself. Over the next few days, Luna's guilt lessened, but didn't quite go away.

Luna was almost certain that "ROOM 3" was about to happen. This was something of a weight off of Luna's shoulders, as she had been sickened by the thought of the three women being executed. At least this way she knew that it was all planned, with the three going willingly and a plan in place to get them out. She was not entirely confident with the plan, but she didn't feel quite so guilty when she saw any of the three of them.

The rest were something of a mystery. Luna suspected that they would have some kind of connection with her, which was supported by the book she had found the potion in originally. The book said that the original visions, created utilising the potion, would be more personal and related to the Seer. Following the use of the potion, the Sight was generally a mixed bag as to whether they had anything to do with the Seer. Luna could definitely attest to that. She had Seen some things since the potion, but nothing seemed to be related to her at all.

As Luna was thinking about the few things that she had Seen, there was a knock at her door.

"Luna," Hermione called through the door. "Alastor and Dedalus want to go over our plan again before we leave."

"I'll be down in a minute," Luna replied, closing the diary and placing it on her cupboard. Luna drew in a deep breath and let it out again before opening the door and heading downstairs.

When she got downstairs she sat with Mad-Eye, Dedalus, Charlie and Hermione in the living room. Bill was talking with Ginny away from the group and looked to be telling her in excruciating detail how careful she had to be. Luna didn't entirely blame him. Ginny arguably had the most unpredictable part to play in their plan. It had taken Ginny the better part of a day to convince the others to let her do it.

"I don't think there's all that much to say," Mad-Eye said gruffly. "You three know your roles in this. I'm not entirely sure that this is even all that necessary."

"Lives are at stake, Alastor," Hermione said stiffly, in a manner that reminded Luna a lot of Professor McGonagall. Hermione had taken to calling him Alastor quite a bit. Not that he minded what anyone called him.

"Be that as it may, Granger," Mad-Eye said, locking his one good eye and his one magic one on Hermione. "We have other issues to attend to."

"We've been over this Mad-Eye," Charlie put in. "We have a lot of people. Put too many on any job and we have more to lose should they fail. It makes sense to spread it all out anyway. It creates more chaos."

"I've spent the better part of my bloody life _stopping_ chaos," Mad-Eye said moodily. "I'll concede that we do need it since we're on the back-foot here. It just stinks of Death Eaters."

"To be fair, they were always on the back-foot as well," Dedalus suggested. Mad-Eye grunted.

"Well, I'm not gonna change anyone's mind, now, am I?" he said.

"Probably not," Dedalus said with a smile. "Well, let's go over things again."

"One of our men at the Ministry has informed us, as you well know, that both lists are in separate areas," Mad-Eye began, stating what they all already knew. "One in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. That's the list of kids with the Trace. The other –"

"Is the Hogwarts Admittance list," Hermione finished for him. "In the Death Room in the Department of Mysteries."

"According to Malfoy, it took the Unspeakables to move the list without stopping the charms," Mad-Eye said, as though Hermione had never interrupted. "One of our guys in the Ministry should be able to help with that."

"What if something happens?" Luna asked, breaking her self-imposed silence. "What if we can't move it properly?"

"It would be for the best if we can get it without removing the charms," Dedalus said. "But if something happens, it's probably best to grab it and let the charms leave the list." Mad-Eye nodded his agreement.

"Don't just leave it there," he said. "Disallowing the Ministry access to it is the point of this mission."

"Who is your "guy"?" Hermione suddenly asked. "You've been rather secretive about any of your insiders."

"You said you've got three of them, right?" Charlie asked. Mad-Eye shifted slightly.

"We do, yes," he replied. "I still don't think that you lot ought to know who they are. The less people that know, the safer they will be."

"Yes, yes," Charlie said. "Constant vigilance and all that. We get it. But Hermione, Luna and Dedalus are going to be helped by this person. If they don't know who to trust, it could get them killed." Mad-Eye looked as pensive as he possibly could with his grizzled, scarred face.

"Fair point," he finally said. "I'm only going to tell you four who _one_ of them is. They'll help you today and then, hopefully, go back to being undercover for us."

"Who is it?" Hermione asked intently.

"John Dawlish," Mad-Eye said quietly, his magical eye watching as Bill and Ginny left the room. Given their timing, Luna suspected that Mad-Eye might have used a suggestion charm on them.

"Dawlish, as in the Auror?" Hermione asked.

"The very same," Dedalus said happily. "He's been providing us information for years. They kept him on as an Auror, but he didn't like it."

"And he can get us into the Department of Mysteries easily?" Luna asked.

"Since You-Know-Who took over, the Aurors pretty much run the Department of Mysteries," Dedalus said. "The only reason they keep the Unspeakables is for their knowledge and expertise."

"It so happens that works in our favour this time," Mad-Eye said. He was about to continue, but there was a high-pitched noise in the house, which made Mad-Eye spring to his feet. "They're back."

Mad-Eye waved his wand and in a few moments, there were four broomsticks floating in front of him. He took one of them and passed another to Charlie. Ginny had come back into the room and grabbed one of her own. The final one was for Hestia who had to come downstairs to grab it. Hermione was hugging Charlie tight and gave him a kiss as Hestia took the broom. Luna felt the urge to look away as Charlie looked Hermione right in the eyes before letting go of her. The four of them with brooms walked towards the front door. When the others came through a few moments later, Luna saw Angelina, Alicia and Katie heading upstairs. Alicia looked like hell, as did Angelina. But they were alive, and that was what was important.

"Moody wants you to go now," Draco said, speaking primarily to Hermione. Dedalus might have been the oldest of the group, but everyone knew that Hermione was unquestionably the leader.

"Be very careful," Bill told the three of them as Luna readied herself to go. She and Hermione had matching pouches expanded to fit any number of things, primarily so that they didn't get too encumbered with anything they have to take or bring back. Dedalus was going armed primarily with his wand. In a way, Luna felt better about this. Dedalus had far more experience against actual foes than either she or Hermione did.

"You too," Hermione said. "But don't worry. I've done this before you know."

"Good luck," Dennis said. He was quiet and reserved, as he had been the entire time he had stayed at Grimmauld Place. Luna turned and looked at Dennis. As she did, she saw something that she didn't see in anyone else. There was most definitely a deep sadness in his face, but there was more to it. He looked purely determined. That scared Luna almost as much as what she was about to do.

Luna lightly grasped Dennis' arm and smiled.

"Get back safely," Luna said lightly. "Don't do anything rash." Dennis' lips rose slightly as if almost smiling and he nodded.

"Let's get going," Dedalus said swiftly. Luna let go of Dennis' arm and turned around, following Dedalus down the long hallway and out of the house. When they were standing on the empty street at the very front of Number Twelve, Luna grasped Hermione's hand and the next moment, they were standing in an alleyway next to Dedalus who appeared a second later.

Hermione took out three flasks of potion out of her bag and gave one each to Dedalus and Luna.

"I don't know how Alastor does this all the time," Dedalus complained before downing the potion in one swift move. Luna and Hermione followed suit. As Luna felt her body morph and change, she saw the same thing happening to her companions. After a few moments, all three stopped twitching and the terrible aftertaste left Luna's mouth.

Hermione had been the one to find the Muggles to impersonate, so this was Luna's first time seeing either of them in their new forms. Hermione was about the same height, but had long dark hair that flowed past her shoulders. The woman was clearly attractive. Dedalus, on the other hand, had taken the form of what appeared to be a frail old man with a close-cropped grey beard and a receding hairline that only had one or two strands of black hair left. Luna knew nothing about her own appearance except that she was slightly taller. She reached up and found curly hair adorning her head. Upon further inspection, she found it to be a light brown colour. It was odd to see her hair and see it as something other than the usual blonde.

"We should get going," Hermione said in a voice that was much lighter than her own. "We have to capitalise on the panic, and that won't last long."

"We stick together," Dedalus said in the voice of a croaky old man as they left the alleyway out into the darkening street. "If I've learned one thing from fighting alongside Mad-Eye all these years it's that we're stronger in a group."

"Trust me, Dedalus," Hermione said as they approached the toilet block. "After my last experience infiltrating the Ministry, I do not plan on getting separated."

Hermione led Luna into the women's bathroom and they entered separate stalls. Hermione had briefed her beforehand, so she had known what to expect. As her father had not been to the Ministry very often, nor had Luna. As a result, her knowledge of how to get there was somewhat vague. Luna thought that it was rather an ingenious idea to have the entrance this way as there was so very little chance of Muggles stumbling across it.

Luna soon found herself happily flushing herself down a toilet. This allowed for one of the worries to be immediately dispelled. One of the primary thoughts was that the Ministry might shut down all entrances after Draco's stunt, but it seems that either they had arrived at precisely the right time or the Ministry had simply not bothered. Either way, Luna and Hermione had made it into the Ministry entirely unimpeded.

As expected, the Ministry was in a state of panic upon their arrival. There were loud alarms blaring as people frantically tried to escape the Ministry at all costs. Paper planes were flying everywhere and Luna even saw one man get divebombed by a rogue owl. Granted, there weren't all that many people left, but those who were there paid the new arrivals no heed. In the distance Luna could see Voldemort himself standing and talking to people who were almost certainly Death Eaters. The only one that Luna could make out was Lucius Malfoy, whose hair stood out amongst the black. As she watched, Voldemort took Lucius' own wand from the man's outstretched hand and turned it on him. Lucius fell to the ground, writhing in an agony, his screams lost amongst the clamour and alarms.

"There you are," Dedalus said loudly, so as to be heard over the noise around them. "We need to go now while people aren't paying attention to us."

"Law Enforcement first," Hermione said. "You know how to get there?"

"Of course," Dedalus said, hurrying in front of them, walking so fast that it was almost running. "Alastor drilled it into me even though I already knew it. Annoying really."

"Constant vigilance," Luna said.

"Indeed," Dedalus said as they turned to one of the many elevators. There was no queue to get in them as everyone else was attempting to flee. Luna looked towards Voldemort once again, and saw that Lucius was just getting to his feet. Voldemort turned to face her, though she didn't think that he saw her in particular. His face was nothing but rage.

"Luna," Hermione said harshly as she grabbed Luna by the arm and pulled her inside. The grate closed behind her, almost clipping her heels.

"Level 2," Dedalus said, cutting off the voice that was meant to speak. "The Aurors shouldn't be there. They are most likely responding to everyone else. Well, all but Dawlish, hopefully."

"Can we really trust him?" Hermione asked.

"We've had no reason not to before," Dedalus replied. "He hasn't steered us wrong, either. He had a lot of time to rat us out, but he didn't. I'd say that's reason enough to trust him."

Almost immediately after Dedalus' final word, the grates slid open revealing what appeared to be a hallway. An empty hallway, Luna noticed when she exited the elevator. Even so, Dedalus put one finger to his lips to signal silence. He then motioned to the left of him. He led the way as he knew the area the best, followed by Luna behind him. Her wand was clutched tightly in her left hand and her heart had begun to beat much faster than usual as the three walked as quickly as possible without making much noise.

"Where is it?" Hermione whispered.

"Next door on the left," Dedalus whispered back. "I think we're alone, but best to keep it quiet for now."

When they reached the door, Dedalus reached out and touched the doorknob, as if testing if it was safe. When he found that it was, he turned the handle and pushed it open slowly. The door, Luna saw as it opened, read _Improper Use of Magic Office_. Dedalus entered first and Luna followed suit. When Hermione came through, Dedalus shut the door behind him and cast a locking charm on it.

"_Hominum revelio_," Hermione whispered. When the spell turned nothing up, the three of them sighed in relief.

The office was rather neat, Luna thought. There was very little within it. She saw a few desks that were clearly well-maintained by their owners. There were some filing cabinets along the walls and a few boxes here and there, but all in all it seemed rather tidy.

"Well, we're alone," Hermione said, not in as loud a whisper as before.

"Where will this list be?" Luna asked, looking around the room.

"Alastor said it's likely in one of the filing cabinets," Dedalus said, walking towards one. "They put it away when they aren't working. The problem is, these drawers have drawers. We need to find it, but we don't have much time."

"The summoning charm is out I suppose?" Hermione asked. Dedalus nodded.

"Almost certainly," he replied. "A list this important almost has to have an anti-summoning charm on it. That's the least they could do to it."

"We'll get looking then," Hermione said. She then walked towards one of the five cabinets and started opening drawers. Luna and Dedalus took two of the others and started the search.

Luna was amazed at the cabinets, and under different circumstances she might have actually expressed her delight. When you opened one drawer, there were four visible compartments within, marked on the bottom of the drawer that, when touched, expanded into another drawer which, too, had four different compartments. In that way, each drawer had sixteen drawers, most of them filled with paperwork on nearly every citizen of Magical Britain since the Ministry was founded. Luna would have liked to have been able to peruse these at her leisure, but time was going quickly. Just as Luna was checking her fifty-second drawer-compartment, there was suddenly an almighty blaring noise all around them.

"I think I found the right one," Luna said loudly as she looked into the compartment to see a rolled up scroll next to a bright purple quill. Dedalus swore.

"They've charmed the drawer!" he shouted angrily. "Of course they have. Alastor thought they might, but I disagreed. Damn it!"

"No time for that now," Hermione said to the usually jovial Dedalus. She joined Luna. "There's no danger in picking this up, right?"

"Not that we can tell," Dedalus said, his wand trained on the door behind them. "This one isn't bound to anything like the Hogwarts list is."

"Good," Luna said, reaching in and grabbing the scroll and quill in one hand. As she did, she felt it burn on her skin. Luna yelped, but kept hold of both artefacts and shoved them into her pouch. Despite having let go of the items, Luna's hand was still burning and paining so much that tears started to come to her eyes. Luna looked at her hand, which was now red and the skin was already starting to peel away. "Ooh. That's my wand hand too."

"Let me look at it," Hermione said, taking Luna's hand. Hermione pointed her wand and muttered a spell that Luna couldn't hear over the alarm. Nothing happened. "I'm sorry, Luna, but we are going to have to wait until Ginny can see to you."

"I'll be okay," Luna said, flexing her hand and wincing at the pain. "It's just a little burn."

The door to the office suddenly burst open, clearly thanks to a spell. The door remained on its hinges, though.

"Which one of you idiots locked the damn door?" Dawlish said from the entrance. He waved his wand and the alarms ceased. "I've been standing out there for five minutes waiting for you."

"Sorry about that," Dedalus said somewhat sheepishly. "That was my doing. Constant –"

"Constant Vigilance, yes," Dawlish said irritably. "Mad-Eye's rubbing off on you. How long does the potion have left?"

"About forty minutes," Hermione said. "Give or take."

"Let's just assume that it's twenty, how about that?" Dawlish said.

"Why?" Luna asked, gritting her teeth.

"Make us work faster," Dawlish said. "You really should have waited for me. I could have gotten that without all the alarms and the burning."

"You could also have shown up earlier, you know," Hermione said flatly.

"Granger, I suppose," Dawlish said. "You're right, but still. Take these."

He handed each of the three of them a silvery, almost transparent cloak.

"Could have used these a few minutes ago," Dedalus said with a laugh.

"Why do we need them?" Hermione asked. Dawlish shot her a look.

"We're going to the Department of Mysteries," he explained, motioning for them to put the cloaks on. "If you three are seen walking with me, I'll probably be killed. Best for it to just be me."

"Won't the Unspeakables notice Invisibility Cloaks?" Luna asked as she enveloped herself in the cloak.

"Of course," Dawlish said. "But they are also forbidden to discuss anything about their work with anyone, even the Aurors. We have a lot more sway down there than we used to, but only about certain things. The Death Chamber and the Hogwarts list primarily."

"Why the Death Chamber?" Hermione asked curiously.

"As much as I would love to regale you with all the details, we are running out of time," Dawlish said angrily. "Eighteen minutes now."

Even though Luna could not see Hermione at all, she could tell that she was angry at that. In fact, Luna believed that the primary thought running through her friends head was something along the lines of "It's thirty-eight actually". Luckily, Hermione didn't voice that.

"Lead the way," Dedalus said, breaking the short silence. Dawlish nodded and exited the room. Luna followed on, unaware of where Hermione and Dedalus actually were. _The Quibbler_ had once distributed a pair of glasses that allowed the wearer to see those under invisibility cloaks. Luna had never wished more than in that moment that she had not lost hers.

No one spoke as they entered the same elevator that they had used before. It was only then that Luna could tell were Hermione and Dedalus were as she could feel them pushing against her.

"No talk from here," Dawlish said. "This one doesn't go to the Department of Mysteries, so we have to go through the Atrium to go to a different one."

"Why doesn't –" Hermione started.

"What did I _just_ say?" Dawlish snapped. Luna heard Hermione murmur an apology. "And it's for security reasons. This way not everyone can get to the Department so easily."

When the grates slid open, Dawlish confidently strode out of the elevator with Luna, Hermione and Dedalus in tow behind him, invisible to everyone around them. Dawlish was walking directly for a specific elevator, and appeared to be avoiding most of the people left in the Atrium. Indeed, there were not many left at all. Those that were seemed much calmer than they had been before.

"Dawlish," a quiet voice suddenly said. Luna recognised him as Yaxley, one of Voldemort's primary Death Eaters. "Shouldn't you be somewhere dealing with something? There is a lot going on, if you haven't realised."

"Is there really?" Dawlish asked in mock surprise. "I didn't realise. It wasn't like I was heading to the Department of Mysteries to check that there aren't any issues down there. You do remember June of 1996, don't you Yaxley? Oh, wait. You weren't there for that, were you?"

"I was not," Yaxley said, frowning. "And neither, I believe, were you. And had you been, what side would you have taken I wonder? The _glorious_ Albus Dumbledore's or the _right_ side?"

"I would have taken the Ministry's side," Dawlish shot back. "I was, and still am, an Auror."

"Such a diplomatic answer," Yaxley sneered. "I think we both know where you would have stood that day. The question is, where do you stand now?"

"With the Ministry," Dawlish said without missing a beat. "Now, may I continue my work or must I stand here verbally sparring with you? For all you know, there are infiltrators and you are obstructing justice. Would the Dark Lord look kindly on you should that be the case?"

"Go then," Yaxley snapped. "Go and look. You will find nothing and be of no use, just as you have been all your career. No one forgets the time you were bested by an old woman, you know?"

"I'm sure they don't," Dawlish said. With that he turned and walked away. Luna stood still as Yaxley watched him leave, fuming. When Yaxley finally turned away, Luna hurried to the elevator. When it was in motion, Dedalus spoke up.

"You did well with Yaxley," he said.

"He has an over-inflated sense of his own importance," Dawlish spat. "Can't stand him. At least Malfoy tries to seem like he's a good person. Yaxley doesn't care in the slightest."

"What do we do from here?" Luna asked.

"You can take the cloaks off now," Dawlish said. "It'll only be the Unspeakables down here, and it's best that we don't give them a reason to distrust us. Let me do all the talking and we'll be fine."

The three revealed themselves and handed the cloaks to Dawlish who promptly placed them inside his own pouch.

"And put your wands away," he said. "These people won't attack you, especially if I'm with you."

When the grates creaked open, they revealed an older man standing in front of them. He looked to be in his late sixties and had greying hair and a long beard.

"Saul," Dawlish said by way of greeting.

"John," Saul replied, eyeing the three others. "Who are these three? I do not recognise them."

"You know about everything going on right now, don't you?" Dawlish asked. Saul nodded.

"I've been … watching," he replied evasively. "That doesn't explain them, though."

"These three are intruders," Dawlish replied. "Members of the resistance movement from France. The Dark Lord is extremely busy, and he does not have the time to interrogate them. He wants them dead immediately, so I am to take them to the Death Chamber and throw them through the Veil."

"The Dark Lord commanded this?" Saul asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why would he not imprison them first? They could have information."

"I can't say," Dawlish said, shrugging. "I could only speculate. Maybe he doesn't see them as a threat. Maybe he doesn't want to give the French resistance, what little there is, the satisfaction of executing them in public. All he told me was that they were to be thrown through the Veil and that I was not to speak of them again. I would suggest you do the same."

"Indeed," Saul said curiously. "I will not say a word. Not that I could, of course."

"Will you allow me entrance into the Death Chamber?" Dawlish asked.

"Oh, of course!" Saul said. "Would you like me to accompany you?"

"Uh, that won't be necessary," Dawlish replied. "In fact, it might be best if you let me in and then leave entirely. We'll just leave it at that." Saul eyed Luna up and down, and a shiver went down her spine.

"That is acceptable, I think," Saul said, not taking his eyes off Luna. Luna's hand twitched and she almost winced at the pain.

Saul then led them into a familiar room. It was just as Luna remembered it. It was entirely circular, with the same dark marble floor that differed from everywhere else in the Ministry. Candles near the handle-less doors emitted a blue light that illuminated everyone around them, making them look almost ethereal. Luna watched as Saul walked directly to the furthest door on the right and pushed it open.

"Enjoy," he told Dawlish simply before eyeing the three others once again.

As Luna took her first step towards the now open door to the Death Room, the room disappeared entirely, replaced by complete darkness. Luna was still there, but when she looked down she saw only herself, not the polyjuiced body she had been using. When she looked up, stars had formed in the area around her and, one by one, beautiful planets appeared, most of which Luna recognised from her Astronomy class. Luna was drawn to one planet in particular. She reached her hand out to attempt to touch the yellowish-white of Venus, and as her hand grew closer and closer, a face appeared in front of her eyes. The pale brown hair dropped almost to his eyebrows. His brown eyes were pained. Hurt beyond belief. But when Luna's eyes met his, they changed. They softened.

All of a sudden, the planet she was looking at changed. It morphed into Mars, the red planet. As she looked, the planet seemed to morph into the face of Voldemort, his eyes the red of the planet whose omen was war. Luna closed her eyes to stop herself from looking at the terrible visage. As she did so, she heard the ticking of a clock inside her head. The ticking continued as she opened her eyes again.

The planets and stars had disappeared and all that remained around her was a sole table directly in front of her. On the left of the table sat what was clearly a Prophecy. Upon closer inspection, Luna found a tag.

_L.P.L. to D.L.M  
?_

Luna turned her eyes away from the Prophecy and looked to the other item. What she saw was clearly a Time-Turner. Luna reached her hand out to touch it.

"Luna!" Hermione said sharply, shocking Luna out of her reverie.

"Oh, sorry about that," Luna said. She was looking at a completely different door than she had been before. "I believe I spaced out for a moment. Shall we go on now?"

Luna saw that Saul was watching her intently.

"Thank you very much, Saul," Dawlish said. "I'll take it from here."

"As you say," Saul said, finally tearing his eyes away from Luna and walking towards the exit. He stopped and marked the door with an "X". "So you can get out." He then left through the door again."

"What in Merlin's name was that?" Dawlish snapped after a moment.

"That happens to her from time to time," Hermione said quickly.

"And you brought her here with you?" Dawlish asked, sounding genuinely annoyed. "How you people survived as long as you did baffles me. Let's go then."

"You really shouldn't have sent him away," Hermione said as they entered into the familiar Death Chamber. "He might have been able to move the thing."

They were now standing in front of a stone that was made into the form of a table. On top of it sat a scroll, not unlike the one that Luna had picked up before. It had a quill next to it as well, except this one was an emerald green. The three of them looked at it as though it was about to blow up.

"That's true, but we can't trust Saul," Dawlish explained. "If it had been Aemon, maybe."

"So, what?" Hermione asked. "We just pick it up and hope for the best?"

"I'm sorry, but it's the best I can offer you," Dawlish replied as they started to descend some steps. "Unless you want kids to keep dying, of course."

"Of course we don't want that!" Hermione snapped. "It just would have been nice to actually _have_ the list."

Before Dawlish could respond with what was clearly going to be an annoyed comment, a low singular tone sounded around them.

"What's that?" Dedalus asked quickly.

"Saul," Dawlish said simply. "He's sounded an alarm."

"Alarms really aren't our friends today," Luna commented, sounding far calmer than she actually felt.

"What do we do?" Hermione asked, brandishing her wand towards each of the three entrances to the Death Chamber.

"Grab it and go seems like the best plan," Dawlish replied. He, too, was pointing his wand towards the entrances. "We might be lucky."

"The Aurors are all away, aren't they?" Luna asked quickly. She was holding her wand in her unburned right hand. She had always been slightly ambidextrous, but she was not nearly as good with her right hand as she was with her left.

"Some might come back for this," Dawlish said quickly. "The Death Chamber is extremely important to the Aurors right now. We don't have time for discussion. Granger, grab the damn scroll and the quill!"

"Hermione, we need to go," Dedalus urged her. Hermione looked torn. Just as she was reaching for the scroll, something began to happen. Luna felt herself changing back into her own body, and saw that the same thing was happening to Dedalus and Hermione. Within seconds the three were back to their own bodies. Luna found it odd to get back to being shorter again. She had enjoyed being taller.

"Shouldn't the potion have lasted longer?" Dedalus asked Hermione. "It hasn't been an hour yet."

"The Unspeakables have a way to reverse the effects of Polyjuice," Dawlish explained.

"Why didn't it work when we walked in?" Hermione asked.

"They might have to use Polyjuice down here sometimes, I guess," Dawlish said. "Just get the damn scroll!"

Hermione wasted no more time and picked up the scroll and quill in one swift movement. She looked at the scrolls with a slightly wistful look before putting them into her pouch.

"What now?" Luna asked.

"No one's showed up yet," Dawlish said. "We might be able to get out the same way we came in."

"Wouldn't Saul have locked the door?" Dedalus asked

"I'll run and check," Dawlish said. "You three keep watch on the other doors." With that, Dawlish ran up the steps towards the door. Luna watched as he slowly opened the door to the room outside. When it was open, she saw Saul suddenly burst through the door. Dawlish was hit with a powerful beam of red light and flew backwards in the air, over the steps. He landed at the bottom of the stairs with a sickening crack. Before anyone could react, a second beam of red light from Saul's wand flew towards Luna. Luna spun out of the way, but almost tripped on a loose stone on the floor. Luna twisted her body and landed on her back before rolling and getting to her feet easily.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Hermione yelled. Saul leapt into the air and seemed to float above Hermione's spell.

"_Avada Kedavra_!" Dedalus cried. Luna looked on in shock as the green bolt headed towards Saul, who managed to get out of the way, but at the cost of his floating failing and he fell to the stone floor. It did him barely any damage as he got straight to his feet.

"No!" Hermione yelled. "No Unforgivables!"

"_Flante vento_!" Saul cried, pointing his wand at Hermione. An almost visible gust of wind blew like a tornado towards Hermione. She was blown off her feet and towards the other end of the Death Chamber. She came to a stop when she slammed into the stone wall and was held there until the wind stopped and she fell to the ground.

Luna pointed her wand at Saul, who was now trading spells with Dedalus, each blocking the others spells perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that one particularly purple curse flew directly at Luna's head. She ducked, the spell causing her hair to ruffle slightly. When she arose, she again pointed her wand to Saul.

"_Occuluscarab_!" Luna cried. When she was finished talking, dozens of beetles flew from her wand and headed directly for Saul, who was seemingly unprepared. Saul heard Luna and turned around. He grinned at her as the beetles came at full force towards his eyes, where they would stay. But before they even reached his body, they suddenly all burst into flames and fell to the ground in ashes.

_What do they do here?_ Luna thought to herself as the last of the beetles burst into flames and hit the ground in ashes.

As Saul began to talk, he was suddenly struck from behind by Dedalus who had jumped on Saul's back and wrapped his arms around the man's throat. Saul flailed about and tried to throw Dedalus off, but he soon slowed down and fell to his knees. Dedalus held on for only a few moments longer before finally letting go. Luna ran to him.

"Is he okay?" she asked.

"He'll be fine," Dedalus replied, breathing heavily. "Can't say the same for Dawlish."

Luna looked over to where Dawlish's lifeless body lay in a pool of his own blood. It was clear that he had cracked his head open upon falling to the floor.

"Can't we get him to Ginny?" Luna asked.

"No," Dedalus said softly. "And even if we could, we don't know how long she'll be away."

"We can't just leave him here," Luna said.

"We'll have to, I'm afraid," Dedalus replied. "Portkeys don't work in the Department of Mysteries, so we have to be out of here. I can't carry him as he is much too large for me. One of your hands is out of commission and Hermione may well be out cold."

"Oh, Merlin," Luna gasped. "Hermione." Luna moved to run towards where the gust of wind had blown Hermione away, but stopped when she saw her walking towards them.

"Are you okay?" Luna asked, examining the back of Hermione's head.

"Splitting headache," Hermione said. "And I might have a … cracked rib or two."

"At least you're alive," Dedalus said.

"What did you do to him?" Hermione asked, looking at Saul.

"He'll be fine," Dedalus replied. "He'll come to in a while."

"And tell people who we are," Hermione said worriedly. "We need to use a Memory Charm."

"I'll do it," Dedalus said before Hermione could do anything. "I've gotten very good at them thanks to Alastor. Besides, it might take too much out of you." Dedalus pointed his wand towards the fallen man who almost looked asleep and muttered an incantation.

"I've not heard that one before," Hermione commented.

"I would be surprised if you had," Dedalus replied with a smile. "Aurors are the only people who should know it. I suppose it extends to friends of ex-Aurors now too. He will only believe that Dawlish was here."

"We aren't going to throw him under the bus," Hermione said, scandalised.

"There's nothing we can do for him," Dedalus replied. "There are too many people around to use magic and none of us can carry him. He'll just have to stay here."

Hermione moved to Dawlish and picked up the man's arm, putting her fingers across his wrist.

"There isn't a pulse," Hermione confirmed.

"Right, well we need to get out of here," Dedalus said. Luna and Hermione nodded and ran with Dedalus towards the open door.

"Do you think he really marked the exit?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think he expected us to get out, so I guess so," Dedalus said, trying the door with the red marking on it. When it opened, they all sighed in relief. They then quickly scrambled into the elevator and Dedalus told it to go to the Atrium. As the elevator moved away from the Department of Mysteries, the low droning sound of the alarm grew quieter and quieter. Luna began to thank her lucky stars that every other person was too busy to check on the alarm.

When the grates finally opened up, all three of them walked out into the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic with their own faces. There was no one left in the Atrium at all. Not a single human being remained from the chaos that had ensued earlier. Luna reached up to her neck and touched the pendant that hung there.

"_Fawkes_," she said quietly. There was a pull at her navel and she disappeared from the Atrium completely. In a moment she was standing on the grass outside of Grimmauld Place. Seconds later she was joined by Dedalus and Hermione. Hermione was pale and clutching her ribs. Dedalus had a cut on his left cheek and blood soaking through his robes on the same side. Luna, however, had escaped unscathed from everything that had happened.

_Who else will? _Luna asked herself before her mind wandered to Venus.


	25. Distractions

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 25**_

_**Rescue Mission IV: Distractions**_

"_You can always find a distraction if you're looking for one._"_  
_\- Tom Kite

_**Ginny Weasley**_

_**6th January, 2004**_

"Bill, I was the one to suggest this," Ginny said firmly in a low voice. "I know how dangerous this is."

"Do you?" Bill asked.

"Of course I do," Ginny replied, her anger rising slightly. "Just as much as you do. Maybe even more when it really comes down to it. I know what the Death Eaters can do. I know what You-Know-Who can do as well. I've known _that_ since I was eleven years old, in case you've forgotten."

"I haven't forgotten," Bill replied calmly. "I know what you've been through, but you must see how dangerous this is. No one else will be there with you. No one will be able to save you if anything happens."

"I know that," Ginny replied in a softer tone, her anger abating slightly. "I know that all too well. The fact is, if I don't do this there's more of a chance that you won't get out alive."

"Not much more of a chance," Bill murmured. "But I see your point. Don't get me wrong here, Gin, we appreciate that you're doing this. I'm just worried for you."

"Don't be," Ginny said with a confident smile. "I'm quick. They won't catch me. Even if they do, I don't think they could hold me all that long."

"If they do –" Bill began seriously but Ginny put up a hand to silence him.

"You won't do anything rash," Ginny finished, knowing full well that wasn't where Bill was headed with that sentence. "We're risking enough as it is, so there's no point risking more."

"You expect us to just sit here if you're captured then?" Bill asked. Ginny nodded.

"Absolutely," Ginny replied. "I know what I'm getting into today. I could get caught. Anyone could be caught by them. But we've got one chance right now, and we can't throw away the advantage we will gain if everything goes well just to save me."

"I don't know if I could deal with it," Bill said quietly. "Not after Fleur."

"It may not even happen," Ginny said softly. "For all we know this whole thing will go off without a hitch." Bill scoffed.

"Yeah, and maybe Mad-Eye will stop being paranoid," he said wryly.

"Anything's possible," Ginny said. "Everyone just has to be careful."

"Promise me you will be," Bill said, his eyes locking with hers. Ginny nodded.

"Of course I will you prat," she said with a laugh. "You surely don't expect me to do something stupid like take on thirty Death Eaters at once, do you?"

"They wouldn't stand a chance," Bill said laughing as well. It was at that moment that a group of others entered the room and sat around Mad-Eye. Ginny looked at the group headed to the Ministry for a moment before looking back to Bill.

"We really are going to deal a blow today, aren't we?" Ginny asked. Bill nodded.

"Assuming all goes well, we most definitely are," he replied.

"We have a long way to go, though," Ginny said seriously. "Today isn't even about You-Know-Who."

"You-Know-Who is the King in our game of chess," Bill said thoughtfully. "But chess is more than an assault on the King. There are smaller struggles that eventually lead to the King's downfall. Today isn't about Checkmate, it's really about Check."

"Ron lives!" Ginny chuckled and Bill laughed.

"Who do you think taught him?" Bill asked seriously. "Dad wasn't into chess, Charlie and Percy were busy with other things and Fred and George … well, you know what they were like."

"I suppose I do," Ginny said, pausing for a moment. "If You-Know-Who is their King, who's ours?"

"In the last game it was Harry," Bill said. "Right now, I can't really say."

It was at that moment that Ginny felt the sudden urge to get up and leave the living room. Bill must have felt the same thing as they both walked into the kitchen together. Dennis was the only one in the kitchen at the time, save for his Phoenix.

"You okay, Dennis?" Bill asked. Dennis nodded.

Ginny was still getting used to having Dennis Creevey around. Ginny had known Colin as they were both in the same year and the same house. That being said, Ginny had never been great friends with him, but she was nice enough. In truth, she kind of felt bad about that because she could tell that Colin was lonely, and yet she wasn't prepared to get close to him. To Ginny, there was always something or someone else.

Now Dennis was around, with no family left in his life except for Teddy Lupin who his parents had been looking after. When Ginny looked at Dennis, she could see aspects of Colin within him, but there were certainly more differences than similarities, especially since Dennis actually looked like a man, as opposed to Colin who seemed to be perpetually a boy.

"I just want to get moving," Dennis said. He had not spoken much during his stay at Grimmauld Place. In fact, Ginny was not sure that she had heard more than ten words spoken by him in the entire time. "I can't stand the idea of Teddy in that … place."

"Nor can we," Bill assured him. "Are you sure you're up for it?"

"I have to be," Dennis said. "He's not coming though." Dennis had pointed at his Phoenix as he spoke and the bird trilled, which made Ginny's spine tingle.

"Why not?" Ginny asked.

"He says he can't," Dennis replied.

"He said?" Ginny asked.

"It's a bit difficult to explain," Dennis replied. "He sometimes sends me these signals. Like he's telling me something. I've been getting a distinctly negative vibe whenever I mention or think about what we're about to do. I don't think he wants to be involved at all."

"I'm not surprised," Bill said. "Does he have a name?"

"Not yet," Dennis said, stroking the bird's red feathers. "I have a feeling he might already have one, so I'm waiting for him to tell me. I'm hoping that these messages get stronger soon. I suppose I'm only in the process of the Bonding, so I guess I can't ask for too much, can I?"

The three were silent for a few moments before a high-pitched noise resonated through the house.

"That's the detection ward," Bill said quickly. Bill turned and walked into the Living Room. Just as Ginny was about to turn away too, Dennis stood up from his seat. As he did so, the Phoenix let out a few bars of a beautiful song before disappearing in a burst of flame, leaving nothing behind except the remnants of the seed that Dennis had been feeding him. Ginny finally turned and followed Bill into the living room once again.

The moment Ginny walked into the room, Moody had thrust a broom in her direction which she grabbed. It was an odd feeling. All things considered, Ginny had not ridden a broom since the summer after her fifth year at Hogwarts as she had been in hiding pretty much since that point. It wasn't until Moody showed up with too many brooms for one person to logically need that Ginny realised how much she had missed it. It was the one thing that she had never once lost her passion for.

On the other hand, a great bout of nerves settled into her as she clasped the broom in her hand. Not nerves because of her flying, she could never ever forget how to fly. It was the nerves for what she was about to do. She couldn't not see just how much danger she was putting herself in, and it truly did frighten her. Then she pictured a little boy who looked a lot like Tonks in a cell in Azkaban and her nerves started to drain away.

_This is what we've survived for_, Ginny thought to herself as she watched Hermione and Charlie share an embrace. _Our world can't fight Voldemort, so we have to. I have to._

Ginny watched as Draco, Angelina, Katie and Alicia walked into the room. Alicia looked terrible, so much so that she was being supported just to stand.

"You ready for this?" Hestia asked, snapping Ginny out of her thoughts. Ginny looked around and saw Luna talking to Dennis, an arm on his hand.

"I have to be, don't I?" Ginny said with a weak smile. Hestia smiled back. It was just as weak as her own.

"Well, you don't _have to be_," she said. "But you are."

"Yes I am," Ginny confirmed. She felt someone touch her arm.

"Please be careful," Bill said. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"We just had this discussion, Bill," she said in a fake annoyed voice. "I will. Don't worry. Just make sure you do as well."

"I'll be fine," Bill replied. "I'll get back. I have to. I can't leave the kids in France." Ginny laughed.

"That's as good a reason as any I suppose," she said. Bill kissed her on the cheek and let go of her arm.

"Let's get moving," Mad-Eye grunted. "We've got a limited window here. Let's not waste it."

Without any further word, Ginny followed Mad-Eye to the front door, Charlie next to her and Hestia behind. As Moody pulled the door open, Charlie squeezed Ginny's hand.

"I'll go first," Ginny said quickly. "That way you don't have to worry about having too many people show up."

"You know where you're going?" Mad-Eye asked one final time. Ginny almost rolled her eyes, but simply nodded. "Good. Meet up with us in a little bit. No longer than fifteen minutes, got it?"

"Understood," Ginny replied just as she turned on her heel, broom still in hand, and disappeared with a soft pop.

Ginny was now surrounded by trees. The air was cooler where she had Apparated to, and the sky was slightly darker. She decided not to waste any time admiring the scenery.

"Voldemort!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. A second later she heard at least three loud pops. Ginny herself turned on her heel and dispparated away before they had a chance to see who she was.

This time, Ginny was standing in an open, empty field. The wind blew her long red hair slightly, and she had to brush some of it out of her eyes. This time, she waited for a little while. At least thirty seconds had passed before she spoke again.

"Voldemort!" she cried. As soon as she spoke the last syllable she disapparated. As she did so, she saw four men arrive in the field. She knew that they could not have seen her enough in order to identify her.

The next place she found herself was near a lake somewhere in Scotland. She was on the side of the lake with a lot of plant life. In particular, she was pleased to see so many trees. The sky was darkening here and it was colder again. It was not snowing, but Ginny had prepared for the possibility. She was glad to be wearing warmer clothing.

Ginny actually got on her broom this time, pushed off the ground and took to the air. For the first time in years, Ginny remembered why she loved flying. She flew as fast as she could forward over the lake, before darting high into the air and flying upwards. When she reached a sufficient height, Ginny slowed down enough so she could speak.

"Voldemort!" she yelled. She then sped up upon hearing several loud pops behind her. She quickly glanced over her shoulder and laughed at the sight. She had not known what would happen should she do this, but it seemed to work to perfection. What appeared to be a mixture of Death Eaters and Aurors, set apart by their black and red robes respectively, began to plummet towards the water below. They had not expected her to be on a broom and, so, were not prepared. Ginny let them fall and flew to the edge of the lake where she dismounted and promptly disapparated.

Ginny was back in another field, this time populated by three cows. Ginny looked around her for a moment before the image of her pursuers falling towards the water filled her mind again and she started laughing. After a few seconds she stopped laughing, but continued to smile.

_Some of them probably needed a bath anyway_, she thought to herself.

She started to pace around the field, eyeing the cows that now appeared to be watching her from a distance. When she was little, Ginny remembered being chased by a cow once. She couldn't really remember where, but she thought it must have been at one of her Aunt Muriel's friends' homes as she remembered the look on Muriel's face when the cow was abruptly levitated. It wasn't Ginny's first bout of accidental magic, but it was the most memorable. Ginny had been wary of cows ever since.

After a few minutes of pacing and staring at the distant cows, Ginny prepared herself.

"Voldemort!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Instantly she turned on the spot and disapparated. Before she disappeared she noticed a green spell miss her by almost nothing. When Ginny appeared at the next site, an old abandoned saw mill, she swore violently.

"They're getting quick," she mused to herself. "This has to be the last one."

Ginny decided to wait even longer for the last one, as they might just think that she was done playing with them. If she got them to think this, they might not expend too much force on the others. This time she waited for five minutes, sitting at the base of the saw mill on a weathering piece of stone. When the five minutes were up, she stood up and opened her mouth.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a silky voice said from behind her. Ginny attempted to disapparate, but the man only laughed. Ginny tried to place the man, but he didn't seem familiar to her at all. "We followed you here you stupid cow. We put up an anti-apparation field ages ago."

"Wait," another voice said from behind the first man. It was then that Ginny saw just what she was being confronted with. There were at least twenty people present, some dressed in the Auror's red robes and some in the Death Eater's black. Ginny recognised the new speaker immediately. It was Amycus Carrow. "Isn't that the Weasley girl?"

"Amycus, you may be right," the first man, who was dressed all in black said with a sneering smile. His face was younger than most of those around him. Ginny actually thought he was rather attractive. His hair wasn't quite as black as Harry's was, and it was certainly well-maintained, and his face was tanned slightly and he just looked nice. Ginny guessed that he was only a few years older than she was. Overall, he was not the type of person that Ginny associated with the Death Eaters. She always thought of them as more like the Carrows. Or Crabbe and Goyle. "Maybe we won't kill her. The Dark Lord will want to question her."

"Like hell," Ginny said angrily. The first man reached out and slapped Ginny across the face hard.

"You will do what we tell you too you blood traitor whore," Carrow almost screamed. Ginny looked up with a smirk on her face. She looked at the other faces and was amused to see that there were some in the group who were still wet from the lake.

"Oh, come up with something better, will you?" Ginny spat. "I'm proud to be a _blood traitor_ and I'm not a whore. Isn't that your sister? That's how you like them, right?"

With that, Ginny leaped onto her broom and sped immediately upwards, avoiding the sole Killing Curse aimed at her, presumably from Carrow. Ginny levelled her broom out and started to dodge the spells that were beginning to be thrown upwards at her. She started off by simply weaving from left to right, but soon had to alter herself slightly as the spells were starting to become more diagonal.

The spells that Ginny was seeing were of many colours, but only one every so often was the green of the Killing Curse. Ginny assumed that it was still from a seething Carrow, and that made her smile inwardly. A bright yellow curse came dangerously close to hitting her, so Ginny began her descent into the forest nearby. It was as she was doing so that some of the curses were coming distinctly from behind her.

Ginny stole a glance backwards and saw three of the Death Eaters trailing behind her, including the attractive one. They were firing spells and curses at her with alarming speed. As Ginny approached the tree line, she heard one of them call out.

"Fall back Terrence!" the woman called out. Ginny was focused ahead of her as she entered into the trees, slowing down only slightly so as to dodge the branches and tree trunks. She occasionally got hit on the face by a stray branch that she couldn't have avoided and eventually felt a slight trickle of blood forming on her face. She could feel a cut on her forehead, and the blood was trickling down quickly so that it was almost in her eyes. Ginny was well aware that this was dangerous, so she finally decided to slow down and stop in the forest.

When she did, she found that it was very dark where she was. Ginny wiped the blood away from her eyes. Just as she was about to apparate away, she heard footsteps behind her. She felt what was coming.

"_Stupefy_!"

Ginny rolled out of the way, scratching her left leg on a fallen branch as she did so. She rolled to her feet, no longer holding the broom. She reached into her robes and pulled out her wand. The attractive man had followed her into the forest.

"You've got nowhere to go," he said with a smile. "Just give in."

"Not gonna happen," Ginny said. "_Reducto_!"

The spell was aimed at the man's kneecap, but he deftly dodged out of the way and the spell hit the ground, sending dirt and leaves into the air. While the man was distracted, Ginny attempted to disapparate, but found that she couldn't once again.

"I figured as much," the man said. "I'm surprised you got through all of those trees with only a little damage. Play Quidditch did you?"

"_Dissiposse_!" Ginny cried, pointing her wand at the man's wand arm. The spell missed and hit the tree behind him harmlessly.

"I played Quidditch too. A Seeker, myself," he said with a too-nice smile. "Those others are making their way in here right now, you know? It might take them a little time to get here. They're not all as moral as I am."

"Moral?" Ginny scoffed. "If you haven't noticed, you're wearing Death Eater robes."

"They are only robes," he replied coolly.

"Do you have the Mark?" Ginny asked.

"Naturally," he replied. "It's almost a necessity. Enough of this now. I don't want you to be taken by those men, I assure you. Let me take you in and you won't come to any more harm than you have to."

"What could they do to me that you won't?" Ginny asked with a scoff.

"Are you truly that naïve?" the man asked. "Some of those men are monsters. I've seen them do horrible things. Things that won't leave me."

"You don't have to be with them," Ginny said, her mind and heart racing. "You have a choice."

"I really don't," he replied with an almost sad smile. "Look, just let me take you back to the Dark Lord. It's either me or the monsters that are chasing you right now."

Ginny stood motionless for a moment. She could hear yelling in the distance.

"Fine," she relented. "I'll go with you. But I want to know your name."

"Why?" he asked. "What difference does it make?"

"Exactly," Ginny said. "What difference does it make?" The man smiled.

"Touché," he replied. "Terrence Higgs." Ginny extended her left hand.

"Ginny Weasley," she said. Terrence smiled and took her hand. Instantly Ginny's right hand flew forward and hit Terrence with all the strength that she could muster directly in the nose. His hands went right to his face and he cried out in pain. Ginny snatched up her broomstick and started running in the opposite direction to where she had heard the others yelling.

She did not stop running for at least five minutes. By the time she stopped she was near a clearing in the forest and her legs felt ready to drop off.

"I need to exercise more," Ginny said, panting. She was sweating and her sweat was falling into the small open wound on her forehead. She would have stopped to heal it, but she knew that she had to get to the others, so she disapparated from the forest, now apparently out of the anti-apparation field.

Ginny could see Hogsmeade from where she was standing. There were a few lights here and there, but the town appeared deserted. Ginny mounted her broomstick and turned to Hogwarts. She moved as fast as she possibly could towards the castle. As she got closer, she saw that there were some colourful spells being fired. As she crossed the wards, at least seven people on brooms turned and looked to see her enter. Most of this group, except for one, were Aurors. As they looked at her, one of them plummeted from their broom. As he did so, Ginny saw Mad-Eye sitting on his custom-made broomstick behind where the Auror had been.

Ginny's heart dropped when she noticed that he was alone. She was so worried for Hestia and Charlie that a Stunning spell almost hit her. It was deflected by a shield at the last minute. Ginny shot off a stunner herself at the caster of the first, who dodged it.

"Careful, Gin," Charlie told her.

"Hestia?" Ginny asked immediately. Two Aurors and the one Death Eater had turned to face Mad-Eye, leaving four Aurors facing Ginny and Charlie.

"_Stupefy_!" Charlie yelled, deflecting an oncoming Stunner with his own. "She's flanking them. Should be here right …"

As if on cue, two of the Aurors facing them were hit with Stunners in quick succession, while the other two dodged. One of the Aurors slumped on their broom and didn't fall. However, their posture caused the broom to dart forward, forcing Ginny and Charlie to dodge out of the way. The other Auror fell from their broom and plummeted to the ground below, which had to be fifty metres at the least.

"Now," Charlie finished. Ginny turned her eyes to Mad-Eye who was fighting three and holding his own. Ginny moved to help him, but Charlie stopped her.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

"Not now," Ginny snapped. "We'll talk later."

"Oh, Merlin," Charlie breathed. Ginny looked at him and followed his eyes. She swore.

Coming towards them was a horde of Death Eaters and Aurors, all on brooms. Ginny couldn't tell from the distance that she was at, but she assumed that they were the ones that she had been running from only minutes before.

"That's not good," Ginny said, just as a pink spell missed Charlie by centimetres. There was one Auror left looking at them. Another was fighting Hestia.

"You stay here," Charlie said, pointing his wand to the remaining Auror and firing five different spells in quick succession.

"You can't expect to take all of them on by yourself," Ginny said quickly. "_Reducto_!" she yelled, aiming at the broom of the Death Eater fighting Mad-Eye. He did not see it coming and the broom beneath him burst into thousands of wooden pieces, and the man started to plummet to the ground. Ginny suddenly felt sick.

"Now's not the time to be squeamish," Charlie said, apparently having noticed the look on Ginny's face.

"He's dead," Ginny said. "I killed him."

"You might not have," Charlie said. "Besides, he's a Death Eater." With that, Charlie sped forward towards the remaining Auror that he was duelling in the air. Surprised, the Auror tried to spin to avoid him, but lost control of the broom. He was bucked off and started to fall to the ground below. Ginny watched him fall. Before the man could hit the ground, someone on a broom flew underneath and caught him. It was one of the reinforcements.

"RETREAT!" Mad-Eye bellowed at the top of his lungs as the group of at least thirty others approached them at a great speed. "NOW!"

Ginny looked over to see that Mad-Eye had finished the two Aurors that he was duelling. He had a nasty gash on his neck that seemed to be pouring blood. So much so that Ginny was afraid for his life. Hestia flew up to her quickly.

"We need to go now," she said quickly.

"Where's Charlie?" Ginny asked, panicking. Ever since he sped towards the last Auror, he had not returned to her side.

"Here," Charlie said quickly. "We can't leave now. The others need more time."

"NOW!" Mad-Eye bellowed again.

"We _need_ to go," Hestia said. She looked at Charlie and sighed angrily before speeding off into the direction of Mad-Eye.

"They need more time," Charlie muttered, seemingly to himself. He raised his wand.

"Charlie," Ginny pleaded. "Let's just go."

"More time," Charlie said finally. His wand was pointed at the head of the pack. "_Avada Kedavra_!"

Ginny watched as if in slow motion as the sickly green light hurtled towards the Death Eater. It struck him directly in the chest and he went flying backwards off his broom and into a second Death Eater who fell off their broom from the impact. It was then that Ginny recognised towards the front of the pack Terrence. His nose had been bleeding profusely and still was. Next to him was Amycus. Next to Amycus was Alecto Carrow. Ginny knew she had to get out of there.

"Charlie," Ginny said. The procession of Death Eaters and Aurors had stopped moving after Charlie had cast the Unforgivable. Ginny looked at her brother and saw something horrifying. He looked haunted.

"Ginny, go now," he said softly. "I'm not going to have your death on my conscious."

"Stop being stupid," Ginny said angrily and pulled at Charlie's arm. "This won't do any good."

"Just go, Gin," Charlie said. The procession in front of them were apparently waiting to see what was going on, as there were no spells fired at them. Ginny saw Terrence arguing with Amycus, but otherwise they were all transfixed.

"No," Ginny said. "If you're staying, so am I."

"No you are not," Charlie said angrily. "I can deal with this. I've dealt with worse in my life."

"They aren't a dragon, Charlie!" Ginny yelled.

Charlie looked at Ginny for a moment with a sad look.

"Okay," he said. Ginny breathed out and let go of his arm.

Charlie shot away from Ginny faster than she had thought possible. Within seconds he was to the left of the large group of Death Eaters and Aurors. As he had shot away so fast, most of the group followed where he was headed and flew towards him. Charlie swerved and flew directly into the Forbidden Forest with about twenty men on his tail.

Ginny was in shock at what Charlie had done, but still managed to see the group headed towards her, headed by Amycus and Alecto Carrow, who looked utterly furious. Ginny took one look at the Forbidden Forest and tears sprang from her eyes. Despite this, she turned her broom quickly and flew towards the castle. The eight that had been chasing her did not expect this and had to quickly alter their own course.

Ginny sped towards the open doors to the castle and flew inside. She quickly entered into the Great Hall which, to her astonishment, was also open. She pointed her wand at one of the stained glass windows.

"_Reducto_!" she yelled. The spell impacted the window and glass shattered and fell to the ground in a million pieces. Ginny dodged a Stunner and flew out the window, which was barely wide enough to fit her. She then turned abruptly and then flew towards the Astronomy tower. As he did so, she looked behind and saw that there were only three remaining on her tail, and not one of them was a Carrow.

As she got to an acceptable height, Ginny turned the broomstick to face towards the ground. She hurtled herself directly at the ground below at breakneck speed. It seemed as though the grass was rising to meet her. At the last minute she pulled the broom up and narrowly avoided being a splatter on the grass. She was not sure whether or not the Death Eaters behind her did the same.

Ginny was facing the Forbidden Forest at this point and considered going in search of Charlie. So much of her wanted to do so, but she knew that it was not the smart move.

_Charlie will make it back_, she thought to herself as she changed course and flew towards the wards. _He has to_.

Just before she made it to the wards, Ginny looked behind and saw that she was no longer being followed at all. This gave her little comfort as she went through the wards and landed her broom. She stepped off and took one last look at the Forbidden Forest. She shook her head and quickly disapparated before she could change her mind.

When she arrived at the porch of Number Twelve, the door was open and Mad-Eye was standing in it looking mad as hell and pointing his wand at her.

"I'm Ginny," she said weakly.

"I know that, stupid girl," Mad-Eye growled. "What the bloody hell was that? When I say retreat, that means RETREAT!"

"Charlie wanted –"

"I don't care what that fool wanted!" Mad-Eye yelled. "Where the hell did you get this tracking charm?"

"What?" Ginny asked dumbly.

"Tracking charm," Mad-Eye said angrily.

"Th-they tracked me to the saw mill," Ginny said.

"That explains why so many of the bastards showed up when they did," Mad-Eye said, his voice lowering somewhat. "Where's Charlie? I've got a word or two for that idiot."

"Lay off, Alastor," Hestia said from behind him.

"I don't see why I should," Mad-Eye snapped. "Bloody idiot could have gotten us killed. Well? Where is he?"

"He – he stayed behind," Ginny said. "I saw him lead some of them into the Forbidden Forest." Mad-Eye swore violently.

"Do we go back for him?" Hestia asked. Mad-Eye shook his head.

"We can't change plans for him," Mad-Eye said bluntly. "If he comes back, he comes back. If he doesn't, I'm sure we'll read about it tomorrow."

"He'll be back," Ginny said. She tried to sound sure of herself, but deep down inside, she wasn't.

"I'm sure he will," Hestia said softly.

"If you'll excuse me, I've got somewhere else to be," Mad-Eye said. He began to push past Ginny, but she pushed back. His magical eye locked on hers.

"Wait," Ginny said firmly. "Let me heal your wound first."

"It's not that bad," Mad-Eye protested.

"You could bleed out, then you would be no good to anyone," Ginny said. "It will only take a few minutes." Mad-Eye looked her up and down and Ginny thought she could see something in his one remaining good eye. She couldn't tell what it was. He nodded and walked back into the house.


	26. Funeral Arrangements

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

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**Author's Note**

Okay, so a quick note at the beginning here. This chapter clocks in at nearly 11,500 words, so it's a very long one. It may be the longest chapter I'll write for this story. I didn't intend to write so much, but I can't cut any of it. I had to do everything here otherwise it would be too out of order.

Also, I thought I would mention that I now have a Twitter account where I will post frequent updates on the progress of this story. You can also ask me questions if you like. I can't put the handle here, but if you search ColinWhisperers, you should find me.

To the chapter!

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_**Chapter 26**_

_**Rescue Mission V: Funeral Arrangements**_

"_A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty._"  
\- Albert Einstein

_**6th January, 2004**_

Azkaban stood unwavering, topped in almost perpetual storm clouds which gave the triangular monstrosity an even more eerie feeling than it already had for those that looked upon its walls, well aware of the horrors found inside. Waves from the ocean surrounding the island upon which the prison sat crashed on the shore unobserved by anyone at all.

Inside, the prison was dark and smelled of death. Evil beings patrolled its corridors at all hours, terrorising the prisoners within. At the very bottom of the building was a pit. A pit so dark and radiated such evil that most could not stand to be near it for longer than a few seconds. There was only one living being that could stand on the edge and look in, and he was doing just that.

Lord Voldemort, clad in extremely dark green robes, stood staring into the abyss below. He smiled as he looked upon the creatures that were his servants. The Dementors had been faithful to him for many years now, and he had long since become completely immune to any adverse effects that they had on any lesser beings.

The pit of Dementors was not Voldemort's doing. It had been there for as long as the creatures had manned the man-built prison. It served as a home and a meeting place for the creatures that no other person would allow to roam the world. Voldemort had spoken to just one Dementor over the years, and it had assured him that they didn't find the pit entirely displeasing and were, as much as it was possible for them, finding it hospitable.

The pit served as something other than a holding place for the foulest creatures to walk the Earth. When the Ministry had decided to use Dementors, the idea of the pit was put forth as a way to further the punishment of those criminals that were far worse than all the rest. The criminals that could never, under any circumstances, be released back into the public. It served both as punishment and a deterrent to those who would seek to escape. The effect of the Dementors was so bad to those on the lowest floor of the prison that they could not even contemplate escape, let alone attempt it.

There was no doubt in Voldemort's mind that, had he ever been caught and sent to Azkaban, he would have found himself on the lowest floor. That is, of course, if the Ministry didn't bend their own laws about the Death Penalty. Perhaps, Voldemort mused, he might have been afraid of the thought at one time. When he was at Hogwarts. Maybe afterwards. Now, the thought was almost comical. The Dementors had no effect on him whatsoever.

Voldemort took one last lingering look into the pit and smiled again. The image was beautiful to him. Thousands of Dementors all in one place. Voldemort knew that where he was standing had to be the worst place on the Earth for any human being. He was beyond a human being. He was so much more.

Voldemort turned away from the pit and motioned for two Dementors to follow him. They had been stationed close to him at the edge of the pit, awaiting instructions. Voldemort walked through the archway into the lowest possible level of Azaban. Along the opposite wall to where he was standing were cells. So very many cells. Some had prisoners in them and some had nothing. Others held the remains of some prisoner or other that had died many years ago. Voldemort was looking for one cell in particular, however. He turned right and walked forward. Five cells down, he found the cell and unlocked it with the big brass key that he had been keeping in the pocket of his robes. He stepped through, stopping the Dementors at the door.

"P-p-please," the frightened voice came from the floor at the far end of the cell. This was where most prisoners ended up. They tried desperately to get as far away from the pit as possible. They could never get far enough.

The boy was, according to records, not quite six years old and the son of a blood traitor and a werewolf. Both parents were dead, killed in the Battle of Hogwarts. They had also been prominent members of Dumbledore's ill-fated group known as the Order of the Phoenix. This, however, was not important for the moment. The boy was far more useful in other ways.

Voldemort lit up the end of his wand and looked down at the boy. He was dressed in prison rags, covered in dirt from the dirt floor he had to sleep on. The boy's hair was a bright blue colour, though it was difficult tell from all of the dirt. There was blood crusted on the side of his face and he looked utterly terrified. Voldemort smiled.

"Where is Dolores Umbridge?" Voldemort demanded.

"Please," the boy whined. "Leave me alone."

"Tell me, boy!" Voldemort screamed. The boy jumped and tried to cower back towards the wall even further.

"I .. I don't know," he said quietly. "Dolly went away."

Voldemort already knew this.

"Where did Dolores Umbridge go?" he demanded. "If you tell us we might stop hurting you." The boy's eyes filled with tears and Voldemort rolled his red eyes.

"I don't know," the boy sobbed, clutching his knees to his chest. "I don't know. I want Dennis. Please."

"TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!" Voldemort screamed, pointing his wand straight at the crying boy's head. The boy suddenly levitated off the ground, his legs stretching out so that his bare feet touched the dirt. His head was raised to look into Voldemort's face. The boy was still sobbing loudly. "TELL ME NOW!"

"I don't know!" the boy wailed, motionless. "Please."

"_Crucio_!" Voldemort shrieked. The boy's body slumped to the ground and he started to writhe in agony, his screams echoing throughout the prison.

_**Dennis Creevey**_

_**4th January, 2004**_

"You look okay all things considered," Patrick commented, eying the Phoenix sitting on Dennis' shoulder. The majestic creature had not left Dennis' side since it had appeared the previous night.

"I guess," Dennis said morosely. "Why are you here, Pat?"

"Happy to see me then," Patrick said sarcastically. Dennis glared at him. "I just thought you ought to know that the police came around last night. They were looking for you. I told them you were staying at a friend's place, which is true I suppose. I did tell him that I didn't know where it was. They told me to bring you into the local station when I see you next."

"Did they tell you why?" Dennis asked.

"Nope," Patrick replied, picking up one of the thick magic book in the room Dennis had slept in. Without the Phoenix, Dennis had no doubt that he would not have slept even for a second. As it was, he slept soundly for a few hours. He was quite surprised at the powers of a Phoenix. The bird made him happier and, at times, calmer as well. "They didn't even mention what happened yesterday."

"I guess we should get going," Dennis said before taking a shuddering breath and getting to his feet. He moved to the bedroom door. "It's best that I show myself as soon as I can. When this happens, family members can be accused of … of murder."

"_Murder_?" Patrick asked, astonished.

"How else can they explain it?" Dennis pointed out. He suddenly thought of his parents again and instantly thought of their bodies laying on the floor of the house that he had grown up in. His knees almost gave out and Dennis thought he let out something of a whimper. He heard the Phoenix on his shoulder start to sing. Within seconds Dennis was relatively calm again. "Don't worry about it, Pat. I'll make them forget that I even exist. And Teddy too."

"That sounds a bit menacing," Patrick replied. "Care to reword that?"

It was then that an image of Teddy writhing on a stone floor in some dungeon somewhere, his small body spasming about and his hair changing colour on a loop flew through his mind. Dennis almost lost his composure again, but the Phoenix trilled and a wave of calm swept over him once again.

"Confundus charm," Dennis explained. "I'm not skilled enough to try a memory charm."

"I can do them," Hermione's voice suddenly came from nowhere. Dennis jumped slightly before turning and seeing her standing outside his door. "Sorry. I was just coming in to check on you."

"So you heard everything?" Dennis asked. He wasn't upset, he was just making sure.

"No," Hermione said. "But I can piece together what you have to do. The Muggle police are involved by now? I'll go with you and we'll sort things out."

Something occurred to Dennis for the first time that made his stomach drop.

"I'll have to organise the funeral, won't I?" he asked nobody in particular.

"Is there anyone else?" Hermione asked kindly.

"Aunt Lisa," Dennis said. "Mum's sister."

"The police mentioned something about a Lisa Sutton," Patrick put in suddenly. "Is that her?"

"Yeah," Dennis said. "What did they say?"

"She's at a motel for now," he replied. "They didn't say much else."

"Hopefully we can see her then," Hermione said. "I'm sure she will organise it."

"Let's just go and get this over with," Dennis sad with a deep sigh. He reached a hand up and stroked the Phoenix who trilled, sending happiness flowing through his body. "You'll have to wait here, I think." Dennis watched the bird as it nodded its head and flew away, bursting into flames as it did so.

"I'll just tell the others I'm going," Hermione said. "I won't be a moment." Dennis nodded and Hermione walked quickly away.

"Sam's worried about you," Patrick said. "I told her what happened."

"We'll go and see her as well," Dennis said after a moment. He was beginning to regret getting out of bed. "I might even bring her here. If something happens and it's discovered that I'm alive, you two need somewhere to hide."

"Why would we need to hide?" Patrick asked.

"My last known address is our apartment," Dennis said. "They could find and kill you. Or worse, they'll torture you."

"And how exactly is knowing where this place is helpful to us at all?" Patrick asked. Dennis couldn't think of an answer.

"Do you have a fireplace?" Hermione asked as she came back into the room.

"No we don't," Dennis said.

"Portkeys then," Hermione said, clearly musing. "Voice activated I think would be best. I'll talk to Bill about it when we get back."

"Thanks," Dennis said sincerely. "We'd better go. I'd rather not keep the police waiting."

"Can you Apparate?" Hermione asked as they walked towards the front door.

"I was never taught," Dennis admitted.

"Never mind," Hermione said with a smile. "I can use your visualisation to guide me."

"You can do that?" Patrick asked.

"I just have to focus," Hermione said. "I will have to take Dennis first though. I've never tried doing this with two people. I'll come back for you."

"It won't be as bad as before, will it?" Patrick asked. Hermione laughed.

"It takes some getting used to," she said. "I must say, it's lucky you guys go to University where my parents were planning on sending me. If I hadn't been there before, I wouldn't have been able to get you back."

"Your parents had it planned?" Dennis asked.

"Oh, yes," Hermione said pleasantly. "Ever since I started school."

"And it wasn't somewhere better?" Patrick asked with a smirk. Dennis almost managed a smile.

"Well, it wasn't the _only_ place that my parents were planning on taking me," Hermione said sheepishly. "It was one of them."

"Ah, you're one of those types," Patrick smirked. "See them all the time in class."

"When you bother to go," Dennis put in. "Can we just get going now?'

"Both of you take one of my hands," Hermione said. Dennis took her hand and she grasped it firmly. Patrick did the same with her left hand. "Dennis, I need you to think hard about somewhere close to the police station."

"Will do," Dennis said. He then tried to push everything else out of his mind and focus completely on the police station. He had never been there, but he had been in the area long enough to know where it was. A few seconds later Dennis felt a sudden disorientating movement, as if he was spinning. It lasted only a second, but he was dizzy when they stopped.

"Still not used to it," Patrick complained.

"Are we in the right place?" Hermione asked, looking around. The street was deserted and they were standing in front of what was clearly the police station.

"Yep," Dennis confirmed. "Let's get this over with shall we?" The two others nodded and they all walked into the station. As they did so, Dennis was greeted by a sudden cry and a hug out of nowhere.

"I'm so sorry, Dennis," Aunt Lisa said, hugging him tightly. Dennis was taller than his mother's sister, and yet he suddenly felt like a child again. He felt on the verge of a breakdown, but stopped himself.

"What's going on?" Dennis asked, trying to keep his face impassive. The police had not told Patrick that Dennis' parents had died, so there was no way that Dennis could possibly know. He wasn't the best actor in the world, but at this point, he didn't need to be. That's why Hermione came with him.

"Y-you don't know?" Aunt Lisa asked. "Didn't somebody –"

"Dennis Creevey?" a gruff voice said out of nowhere. "We would like you to answer some questions."

"Oh, come on," Aunt Lisa complained. "He doesn't even know yet."

"I'll tell him," the officer said brusquely, grabbing Dennis by the arm. Dennis looked around at Hermione and Patrick with a pleading look on his face.

"Excuse me, sir," Hermione said quickly. "What is going on here? That is tantamount to physical assault. I should report you to your superior."

"When I want your opinion, I'll ask," the man responded angrily. "This is a murder investigation."

"Murder?" Dennis asked, not having to feign sounding concerned. "I didn't murder anyone!"

"Well then, you'll have no problem confirming your whereabouts yesterday, will you?" the officer said. "Come along quietly and we'll see what you have to say."

"Dennis was with me all day yesterday," Hermione said loudly. The officer stopped and looked back at her. "He spent the night and then we spent the day with friends. We have at least ten people who can verify where he was all day."

"What is going on here?" Dennis suddenly demanded, mustering all the anger that he felt he could.

"I'm so sorry," Aunt Lisa said quietly. "Your mum and dad were found dead in their house yesterday."

"What?" Dennis asked dumbly, feigning ignorance. "They … what?" Aunt Lisa rushed over to him and pulled him out of the officer's grip. He did not appear to be happy at the events, but he certainly wasn't insisting he take Dennis away any more.

"Fine then," he said, annoyed. "You two, come with me." Dennis heard footsteps walking away and felt a hand on his shoulder. He couldn't tell whose it was, though.

What came next, he hardly had to feign. He sat down where Aunt Lisa had been sitting before and she pulled him close to her. He wept into her shoulder. For the first time he truly was grieving. As much as he appreciated his Phoenix for lessening the grief, he felt something lift off of his shoulders as he cried into his Aunt's.

"Oh, love," she said quietly as tears formed in her eyes as well.

"What about Teddy?" Dennis asked. He was almost certain that the Death Eaters had taken Teddy, but he was hoping with all of his heart that they had found something about him. His Aunt Lisa had known about Teddy, but only after Dennis helped organise the papers. To her, Teddy was an adoption that her sister had wanted to do since Colin died.

"We – we don't know," she admitted. "But they'll find something."

Dennis said nothing and continued to let his Aunt hold him as though he was a child again.

Just as he got himself under control, Hermione and Patrick walked back into the sitting room. Dennis eyed Hermione quickly and saw her nod.

"I need to talk to Hermione and Patrick for a minute," Dennis said.

"I don't believe we've met," Aunt Lisa said. "Are you Dennis' girlfriend?"

Dennis opened his mouth, but Hermione spoke before he could.

"Yes," she said. "I didn't expect to have to meet you under these circumstances."

"Ah, well I'll go and talk to the man in charge," Aunt Lisa said with a smile to Dennis, who was now blushing. "I need to try and find out what to do next."

As she stood up, Hermione pointed her wand at Aunt Lisa who looked perplexed only for a moment before her eyes glazed over. For a few seconds, she stood in front of them motionless. She then shook her head quickly and walked away.

"I'm sorry, I had to," Hermione whispered.

"For that or the whole 'girlfriend' thing?" Patrick asked with a smirk.

"Shut up," Dennis snapped. "I understand. What did you do, though?"

"That man who was trying to drag you in for an interrogation was the Detective Chief Superintendent," Hermione explained. "He's basically in charge here. I convinced him that you had never been there. I also made him believe unreservedly that this wasn't murder and that your parents died of a gas leak."

"A gas leak?" Patrick asked. "Seems a bit farfetched."

"Muggles believe what they want to when they can't explain it," Hermione said. "No offence."

"None taken," Patrick replied with a mock look of hurt on his face.

"And Teddy?" Dennis asked.

"I convinced him that his paperwork was incorrect and that there was no other child," Hermione said.

"What did you do to Aunt Lisa?" Dennis asked.

"I had to do the same thing," she said. "I'm sorry, but if we do find Teddy –"

"When we find Teddy," Dennis said darkly. Hermione nodded.

"When we find Teddy," Hermione corrected herself, "we're going to have to keep him close at hand. We couldn't tell her that we found him, and we don't want her to hold out hope. Does anyone else know about Teddy that we need to see about?"

"Aunt Lisa's divorced," Dennis mused. "So there's no issue there. Nobody else was close enough to my parents and knew a lot about Teddy to question it, really. Most of them will take Aunt Lisa's word that Teddy was never there at all."

"What are you three whispering about?" Aunt Lisa asked as she walked back into the room.

"We were just comforting Dennis," Hermione said quickly.

"He's lucky to have such a beautiful girlfriend," Aunt Lisa said and Dennis found himself blushing again. Patrick stifled a laugh. "I have to go and see someone about organising the funeral. You can come if you like."

"Uh … not just yet," Dennis said unhappily.

"I understand," Aunt Lisa said, kissing Dennis on the cheek. "Don't you worry about it. I organised your grandmother's funeral, so I know what to do."

"I'll come by tonight and have dinner with you," Dennis suggested.

"That sounds lovely," Aunt Lisa said with a weak smile. "Do you know where I'm staying?"

"No, I don't," Dennis said. A few moments later, Dennis had a piece of paper in his pocket and was hugging his Aunt. "Call me if you need me."

"I will," Aunt Lisa said. With that, Dennis kissed her on the cheek and walked out of the police office. Hermione led the three of them into an alleyway.

"That was harder than I thought it would be," Dennis said before taking a shaky breath. "I feel so bad leaving her there."

"You did good," Patrick said seriously.

"I agree," Hermione said. "But we have more to do today. I'm sure she'll be fine until tonight."

"I suppose," Dennis said gloomily.

"Dennis, I know you mean well, but we really do have to do other things," Hermione said softly. "If the Death Eaters have Teddy, that means we have to get him _and_ Astoria. And that's not going to happen without preparation. I'm sure your aunt will be okay alone for a little while."

Dennis still wasn't sure about everything, but decided that he should go along with Hermione. He nodded glumly.

"Oh, come on now," Patrick said theatrically. "Give your boyfriend a comforting kiss."

"Is that really necessary?" Hermione asked haughtily, though her face was turning slightly red. "It was the easiest explanation."

"Make her sleep on the couch next time you 'stay the night' Dennis," Patrick said, smirking. "She shouldn't be denying your love! Sleeping on the couch, that's the answer right there."

"I'll do that if you do," Dennis said with a smile on his face.

"Oh God, there's no way I would try a thing like that with Sam," Patrick replied, shivering. Dennis laughed for the first time since he found his parents. "She'd never speak to me again. Or worse."

"Thanks, Pat," he said sincerely. "I needed that."

"Speaking of Sam," Hermione said slowly. "As much as I enjoy being the butt of a joke, we do need to go and see her. I'll Apparate us to where I left Patrick yesterday. I'll walk to the apartment with you guys and then I'll go back to Number Twelve and get Bill."

"Sounds good," Patrick said. He took Hermione's hand as they did when they left. "Which one's Bill again?"

After a quarter of an hour walk, the three of them came to Dennis and Patrick's apartment. Patrick quickly unlocked the front door and walked in first. When Dennis walked in, he saw Sam walking towards them at a reasonably fast pace. Dennis wasn't expecting it when Sam wrapped him in a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry Dennis," she said in his ear. Dennis hugged her back. "I can't imagine going through what you are right now."

"I'll be okay, Sam," Dennis said, though he wasn't quite sure that he believed himself.

"If you need me, I'll be here," she said, stroking his hair.

"I know," Dennis said, pulling away from her embrace with a smile. "I'll definitely come to you." Sam nodded and looked over Dennis' shoulder.

"Hi," she said quickly.

"You must be Sam," Hermione said. "I'm Hermione Granger."

"Pat told me about you guys," Sam said, reaching out to shake Hermione's hand. "Sounds like you have it a bit rough."

"That's really only the last few months," Hermione said. "We have been pretty safe for a few years before that."

"Pat said that you guys were in hiding for ages," Sam said. "That doesn't seem all that fun."

"It wasn't," Hermione admitted. She then sighed deeply. "It's what we had to do. If I'm being completely honest, despite everything bad that has happened over the past few months, it's actually good to feel like we're doing something. If you don't mind, I'm going to go and get someone else. I'll be back in a moment." Sam nodded and Hermione disappeared with only the smallest pop.

"That's amazing," Sam said, staring at where Hermione had been. "So she's back at her home right now?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Patrick said before kissing Sam on the cheek. "I've learned first-hand what magic can do over the last few days. The good and the bad." There was a silence after that as Dennis sat down on the couch.

"Why are you here?" Sam asked quietly. "I mean, I'm glad to see you, but why?"

"Honestly, I would rather be in bed at the moment," Dennis said looking at the television that was turned off. He could see himself in the refection, and he thought he looked terrible. "But we have to make sure that you and Pat are safe."

"That makes sense," she said. "I suppose now there is more of a danger to you and to us."

"Well at least you understand right away," Dennis said, smiling at Patrick.

"Why am I not surprised?" Sam asked with a laugh.

There was another pop, louder this time, and when Dennis looked he saw that Hermione was accompanied by who he assumed was Bill Weasley. He had not had much time to get to know the others at Number Twelve, and had only glimpsed most of them.

"We haven't met," Bill said, looking at Sam. "I'm Bill Weasley."

"Samantha Pritchard," Sam said politely, shaking Bill's hand. "But call me Sam. Call me Sammy, and I'll hurt you."

"Trust me on this one," Patrick said seriously. "She'll do it."

"I've no doubt," Bill said, laughing. "Hermione here's the same way. Call her Hermy and she loses it."

"That's right," Hermione asserted. "Charlie tried that once early on. I didn't hear him talk for a week."

"You ignored him?" Sam asked. Hermione laughed.

"No, I silenced him for a whole week," she said. "It's an easy spell, really. By that time mine was pretty powerful. The only other person who could cancel it was Fleur, but she wouldn't do it out of principle."

"Who's Fleur?" Sam asked. "Pat mentioned Charlie, he's your brother, right?"

"Yeah," Bill said, his face fallen for a moment. "Fleur was my wife. Um, she was killed a week ago."

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry," Sam said. "I'll be shutting up now."

"You didn't know," Bill said with a small smile. "It's okay, I'm just still getting over it, but I know that I can't hide forever. Fleur was killed by You-Know-Who. Or at least, I hope you know who I'm talking about."

"Dennis has told us," Patrick confirmed. "He didn't mention the guy's name, though."

"Good," Bill said, nodding. "Say his name and his followers know your location. They find you and they kill you."

"I figured that was still in place," Dennis said. "I didn't want to chance it."

"Exactly," Bill said. "That's why you two are going to remain ignorant of his name. If you don't know the name, he can't find you."

"Sounds reasonable," Sam replied. "Dennis mentioned something about keeping us safe."

"Hermione thought that voice-activated Portkeys were the best idea," Bill said. "But I was thinking about running something by Mad-Eye. I think we should be able to charm some kind of jewellery that you always have on to alert us at Number Twelve and you guys as well that there are magical people in your vicinity. We'll still give you the Portkey's, but this way you can be aware before something happens. It will take a little bit more time, but I think Hestia, Mad-Eye, Hermione and myself should be able to put something together."

"I don't know half of what you just said, but it sounds good," Sam said.

"Basically, we'll make something that you are always in contact with heat up when any magical people other than any of us are in your presence," Bill said. "That way you can use the Portkey to get to Number Twelve and we can get here to fight the Death Eaters off."

"That clears some things up," Sam said. "Still a little unsure of what a Portkey is, but it all sounds good."

"Maybe you should come to Number Twelve," Hermione suggested. "That way we can fill you in on what you need to know and you can get to know some of the others."

"And Dennis, you're welcome to stay with us for as long as you want to," Bill said. Dennis nodded.

"I think I'll stay until Teddy's back safely," he replied. "After that, I guess we'll see."

"The more the merrier," Hermione said. "It's a big house, and, trust me, we are ecstatic to have more people to talk to."

Dennis was Apparated to Number Twelve by Hermione while Bill took Patrick and Sam. It was only just after midday, so Dennis decided to leave Patrick and Sam in the capable hands of Hermione and Bill as he went to try and get in a nap before going to dinner with his aunt. He really felt like he needed it. When he got into his room, he found that the Phoenix was waiting on the bedside table. Dennis scratched it under the chin and lay down on the bed. Almost as soon as he put his head on the pillow, the Phoenix started to sing and Dennis fell almost immediately to sleep.

Later he was woken up by Sam who told him that Hermione would take him to the motel where his aunt was staying. They got there easily as it was not far away from the police station. Dennis had a very quiet dinner with Aunt Lisa at a nearby Italian restaurant. Aunt Lisa asked Dennis about everything going on in his life, and Dennis found it hard to open up to her. The Phoenix wasn't with him and he was starting to think extremely negative thoughts about his parents and Teddy.

It was during dinner that he was told that the funeral for his parents had to be in three days. Aunt Lisa said that the police needed to do some more rudimentary checks before they could release the bodies. The funeral was set for the seventh of January. Dennis gave his Aunt his mobile phone number in case she needed anything, whether that was to do with the funeral or anything else. He still felt bad that he had to leave his aunt alone in all this. Dennis at least had people to turn to. His aunt didn't have even that. She did inform him that she planned on going to see some of his parents' friends, which made him feel a little better.

After dinner Dennis called Number Twelve and Hermione arrived to take him back.

"Alastor has some bad news," Hermione said solemnly.

"Is Teddy alive?" Dennis asked immediately as soon as they were out of hearing distance from his aunt.

"Yes," Hermione said, but Dennis saw something in her eyes. "Alastor will talk to you when we get back." Dennis nodded and took her hand. In a second they were standing out the front of Number Twelve. Without hesitation, Dennis turned the door handle and walked in, headed straight for the sitting room.

"What do you know?" Dennis asked the room. He wasn't entirely sure who Alastor was, so he decided to address the whole room.

"One of my sources at the Ministry informed me about Teddy," a man said, standing up roughly. Dennis recognised him, to some surprise, as his first ever Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, Mad-Eye Moody. "He's being held in Azkaban. On the lowest level too, the sick bastards."

"Azkaban?" Dennis said weakly. "He's just a kid!"

"You know, your Muggle friend told us some things, but it might be best if you tell us why your family was looking after the son of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks," Mad-Eye said not totally unkindly. No matter how kind he tried to be, it seemed like he could only sound blunt.

"Does it really matter?" Dennis asked, feeling himself shake as the Phoenix appeared in a burst of flames on his shoulder. "He's in _Azkaban_ of all places."

"It's good if we know everything," Luna suddenly piped up out of nowhere. Dennis looked at her for a moment as the Phoenix on his shoulder trilled lightly into his ear. He nodded and told the story as best he could, comforted by the feeling of warmth created by the Phoenix's presence.

"Umbridge?" Mad-Eye asked. "Interesting."

"Look, is there anything we can do to get him out?" Dennis asked. In fact, he was almost pleading. "I know I haven't known him all that long, but he's my little brother. The thought of him in that place ... I just can't stand it."

"We'll work something out," Bill promised. Dennis nodded and walked out of the room to go and lie down again. Even the presence of a Phoenix, known for their healing and calming abilities, could not stop the tears from flowing when he thought about Teddy locked up in a cell in the worst prison ever created, creatures of death lurking nearby, sucking all the happiness out of a child who had just learned how to be happy for once.

The next day, Bill was true to his word. Draco Malfoy showed up in the middle of the day with news about his wife, Astoria. Dennis was not sure what to make of Draco, but assumed that he must be able to be trusted. What made him come to this conclusion was seeing Hermione work together with Draco with no hesitation. Dennis knew then that Draco could be trusted, and was even more convinced when he laid out the plan to get Teddy and Astoria out of Azkaban.

The plan was simple but, in a lot of ways, dangerous. The primary theme that Dennis observed was the use of distractions. A lot of distractions. First, there would be the distraction of Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell, who Dennis was very pleased to find out were alive and well, being caught by the Ministry in a supposed "assault". Draco predicted that, in light of the betrayal of his wife as well as basking in the afterglow of taking France, Voldemort would move to execute them himself. Draco would be in the crowd with his family, as was to be expected of him. From there, he would disarm Voldemort from behind, rendering him wandless. There was a discussion that the wand was important. They were calling it the "Elder Wand", but Dennis didn't really see the significance. After Voldemort was disarmed, Draco would then use a Portkey to get away, while one of Mad-Eye's people would get Angelina, Alicia and Katie out of there as well.

From there, they would distract the Ministry further by flying to Hogwarts and flying in and out of the wards. This was to be Hestia, Charlie and Ginny, but Ginny suggested she Apparate around the country saying Voldemort's name. There was some arguing, mostly from Bill and Charlie, but eventually they came around. She would do that and then join the others at Hogwarts. In the meantime, Hermione, Luna and Dedalus would go to the Ministry itself and try and retrieve two lists that would stop Muggleborn kids from being killed. This part of the plan was insisted on by Hermione, but some others, mainly Mad-Eye

The final part was to be the infiltration of Azkaban. This was the most discussed plan, as it would be the hardest to achieve. Draco thought that he should go to get his wife, but Mad-Eye shot that plan down as Draco couldn't make a Patronus. Ultimately, it was decided that only Bill and Mad-Eye would go, as the rest would be busy or possibly hurt. No one brought up the fact that Dennis was not involved in any of the plan. Dennis felt as though he could be helpful, but he didn't want to put anyone out, so he kept quiet.

That evening, Dennis got a call from Aunt Lisa. Mostly she just wanted to check up on him and to inform him of the developments in the funeral arrangements. Everything was going to plan, it seemed, but as she spoke more and more, Dennis began to feel guiltier. He felt guilty that she couldn't know what he was doing or that Teddy even existed. He felt guilty that they had to change her memories at all. But he knew that he couldn't do anything about it.

"Dennis, love," Aunt Lisa said over the phone, "don't let the world ruin you. Don't let people run all over you. You are so much better than you could ever know. You are the only family I have left now. I want to see you do so well."

"I'll try," Dennis promised, feeling much more empowered. "Thanks Aunt Lisa. I needed that talk. Today's been really hard."

"Call me tomorrow, okay?" Aunt Lisa said.

"Will do," Dennis said. "Bye."

"Bye love," Aunt Lisa said and hung up.

The next day, Dennis told Mad-Eye that he was going to the prison with them. The entire time he was getting something of a negative vibe from the Phoenix. The Phoenix, Dennis had found over the last few days, had the capacity to "talk" to him in a way. There were no words said, exactly. It was almost as though little images flashed in front of his eyes every so often, and he could instinctively tell that it was the Phoenix doing it. He had a very bad feeling about Azkaban, and Dennis couldn't blame him at all.

Dennis watched Mad-Eye intently after he told the retired Auror that he was going to Azkaban. Dennis thought he could see something akin to admiration in the old man's good eye. It was almost as though he had expected Dennis to declare that he was going. After asking Dennis some questions that amounted to no more than "are you sure?", Mad-Eye agreed and sent Angelina, Alicia and Katie away to get captured.

For the next few hours, not a lot occurred. It was mostly everybody sitting around nervously contemplating their roles in the next few hours and, if they were anything like Dennis, wondering what would happen if something went horribly wrong. He couldn't help but look at everyone around him and wonder just how many of them he would actually see again. After some time doing this, Dennis decided that it was counter-productive and walked into the kitchen and sat alone.

Everyone else was engrossed in their own problems until Ginny and Bill walked into the kitchen. They asked how he was doing and Dennis felt obliged to make at least some light conversation. In truth, he was feeling quite sick at the thought of having to go anywhere near Azkaban and he was dreading the coming hours. Despite this, however, he knew that there was nothing that would ever stop him from going there if he could save Teddy.

As the conversation between him, Ginny and Bill wound up, there was a shrill noise filling the house. Bill confirmed what Dennis was thinking and Dennis quickly stood up. His Phoenix, which had been resting on his shoulder for hours, let out a short trill and disappeared in flames. Dennis saw that Ginny was watching this intently.

"Angelina's coming with us apparently," Bill said as Mad-Eye walked out of the front door with Ginny, Charlie and Hestia. "Mad-Eye's meeting us at the prison later. Don't worry, though. He told me the best way to get to Teddy and Astoria."

"Right," Dennis said, suddenly even more nervous. He trusted Bill, but there was something about having Mad-Eye there the whole time that had calmed Dennis somewhat beforehand. As Dennis was beginning to freak out, Bill walked over to Luna, Hermione and Dedalus who were getting ready to go.

"Good luck," Dennis said to the group. Luna turned to him and looked straight into his eyes, and he into hers. After a moment, Luna reached out and lightly grasped Dennis' arm. Dennis looked at her hand and then looked up at her smiling face. It was a true smile.

"Get back safely," Luna told him softly. "Don't do anything rash." Dennis almost smiled at her and nodded. Somehow he didn't feel quite as worried about Azkaban.

"I'll go upstairs and check on Angelina," Bill said as Dedalus lead the two women outside. "We need to go as soon as possible."

"Sounds good," Dennis replied. Bill took the steps two by two and Dennis found himself alone in the living room with nothing but his thoughts left. That was until Draco walked out of one of the rooms.

"I want to apologise," Draco said. "I know that I wasn't involved in the stuff with your family, but I was involved with those who did it. I'm still connected in a way. I wouldn't hurt Teddy, I swear."

"I know," Dennis replied. "I was just upset. Everything happened so quickly. Don't worry. We'll get Astoria and Teddy out of there. I promise."

"I've learned a lot about people these last few months," Draco said as Bill descended the staircase with the wolf that was Angelina. "People like you never cease to amaze me. You're a good person."

"Sometimes I wonder about that," Dennis admitted. This was when Bill handed him a broomstick.

"You still know how to fly?" he asked. Dennis looked at the broom in his hand.

"I haven't flown in a while, but I think I can do it," Dennis said. Bill nodded.

"Good," he replied. "Mad-Eye rigged up a sort of net thing for Angelina to ride in on my broom. It might slow me down, so it may be best if you try not to go to fast once we get to the shore."

"I take it you know where to go?" Dennis asked.

"Trust me," Bill said with a smile. "Mad-Eye's been over this so much I could remember it in my sleep. Besides, he left us a Portkey so that Angelina can go as well."

"Well, we should probably go then," Dennis said taking a shaky breath. Draco clapped him on the shoulder.

"Thank you guys so much," he said. "I know you're going for Teddy as much as Astoria, but it means a lot. I wish I could be going with you."

"I kind of wish you were coming," Bill said. "But we need you here anyway. Katie's looking after Alicia, so you're the only one holding down the fort."

"Well, that I can do," Draco said. "Every little bit helps."

"Exactly," Bill said. "We'll be back with your wife as soon as possible."

"Have a good time," Draco said. Dennis scoffed.

"Will do," he said sarcastically. Angelina growled lightly.

When Dennis, Bill and Angelina were standing outside of Number Twelve, Dennis noticed how dark it was. Even though it was still early in the evening, he wasn't entirely surprised at the dark. It was right somehow.

"Angelina," Bill said, pulling a long piece of rope out of the satchel he had. "You need to bite one end of this and hold tight so you get there in one piece, okay?" The dark wolf nodded and grabbed the rope in her mouth. Dennis reached out and grasped the other end along with Bill. "Ready? Good. Fawkes."

There was a pull at Dennis' navel and for a second he struggled to keep a hold of the broomstick in his hand. This passed however, but as he landed, he fell backwards. Luckily, the broom was unharmed.

The three of them were on a beach. It wasn't a particularly nice-looking beach. In fact, it looked as though it was poorly taken care of, with rubbish strewn everywhere along the sand. As Dennis picked himself up, he narrowly avoided being punctured by a needle.

"It's about a fifteen minute broom ride from here," Bill said. He looked out into the water and pointed. "In that direction. Stick by me. I'll have the compass spell going."

When he finished talking, Bill mounted his broom and quickly hovered above the ground only slightly. Dennis saw the crudely thrown together net that was to hold Angelina. She glared at the rope net with some content.

"Sorry, but it's the best he could do," Bill said. "It's safe though. He made it as safe as it possibly could be." Dennis could have sworn that he heard a derisive snort from Angelina as she crept slowly into the net. When she was finally inside of it, she laid down on the ground. It was as if she was bracing herself. Dennis then mounted his own broom and hovered above the ground.

"Let's go," he said. Bill nodded and flew upwards. As he did, Dennis saw Angelina underneath him almost cling to the net for dear life. If the situation had been different, Dennis was sure that he would have laughed at her. When he and Bill ascended to a height that Bill deemed appropriate, they started forward.

Despite the extra weight of the wolf below him, Bill didn't actually seem to be slow at all. They were moving quite quickly and Dennis wondered idly how fast they were actually going.

Despite the expectation that Dennis had built up in his mind, the weather did not worsen as they got closer to the prison. In fact, if it had been only hours earlier it would have been sunny, something that Dennis desperately didn't want to associate with Azkaban.

"Look," Bill called out, pointing. Dennis looked forward but could not see anything. For a moment, he was concerned, but then something changed and suddenly Dennis could see the towering monstrosity in the distance. This time, there were storm clouds above. Dennis felt sick just looking at it. "We land down there."

Dennis' eyes followed Bill's hand and saw a pier out the front of the prison. That surprised Dennis somewhat as he didn't know why wizards would have need of boats to get to Azkaban. Dennis watched as Bill started to descend to the ground below, heading straight for the pier. He quickly did the same and trailed behind Bill until they both hit the wooden planks below and dismounted.

"I'll take that," Bill said, taking the broom from Dennis. Bill pointed his wand and the broom shrank in size. He then quickly placed it in his satchel, followed by his own broom. Angelina was now on the pier, licking the wood below.

"You like being back on the ground?" Dennis asked, finding himself laughing. Angelina looked at him and nodded vehemently.

"We'll want to get in there right away," Bill said. "Mad-Eye should be here soon, but we don't have time to wait. We have a window of opportunity right now." Before Dennis could respond, Angelina growled, with her ears pricked up.

"What's there?" Dennis asked, his wand now firmly grasped in his hand.

"Nothing, probably," Bill said, walking towards the sole wooden door that was the entrance to Azkaban. "Dementors don't effect animals, but animals can detect them. They know the presence. That's probably what has Angelina all riled up."

"Ah," Dennis said, his nervousness reaching a peak. Bill reached out to the handle of the wooden door with his left hand, his wand raised, poised to attack, in the other. Angelina was baring her teeth at the door as Bill pushed it open. There was nothing there.

"We might just be luckier than we know," Bill said, pushing the door open further. Dennis walked through the door and into what had to be an administration room. It was small and consisted of just two wooden chairs, a desk and two doors exiting left and right of the room. There was no one anywhere in the room. "The distractions must have worked."

"Why aren't there alarms?" Dennis asked. "You'd think there would be."

"You-Know-Who doesn't believe that there's anyone out there who is a threat to him," Bill said, looking over the desk. "Before him, only one person ever got in or out of this prison unlawfully. Why would he worry about security? That's what the Dementors are for."

"Well, where are they, then?" Dennis asked.

"Mad-Eye says that they're likely only patrolling in areas that actually have prisoners," Bill replied, leaning on the desk. Angelina was sniffing at the two doors. "The rest are in the Pit."

Dennis shivered.

"Right," he replied. "Then, where do we go from here?"

"Left," Bill replied. "Then downstairs."

"Downstairs?" Dennis asked, perplexed. "Is there a basement level?"

"Go behind that desk and look out of the window," Bill suggested. Dennis walked around him and looked out of the dusty window. He saw two sides of the prison joining in front of him to form one of the three points of the triangular shape that the prison formed. There was a giant chasm between him and that point, however. Dennis looked down and saw a lot more floors. He knew they were the prison cells as there were only a few barred windows here and there. When he looked as far down as he could, he saw only darkness below.

"Damn," Dennis breathed. He then looked upwards. He couldn't see the top of the structure.

"Left and down," Bill said solemnly. He moved to the correct door, which Angelina was sniffing at and opened it.

"Should we use our Patronuses now?" Dennis asked. He wasn't sure if he was feeling any worse because of the Dementors.

"It might be the best plan," Bill said. "How did you learn the Patronus anyway? _Expecto Patronum_!" A large silvery ox appeared out of Bill's wand and started to walk with them as they descended the stairs. Dennis started to feel better just from the one Patronus.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" he cried, thinking about the moment that he received his Hogwarts letter, Colin hugging him tighter than he ever had before. Dennis' rabbit burst from his wand and moved to walk next to Bill's ox. Angelina then moved in front of Dennis and Bill and stood next to the rabbit. "Dumbledore's Army. Harry taught us. I didn't get it then, but I worked on it all the next year and I was able to do it."

"Harry really could work wonders," Bill said. "What were you? Third Year?"

"When I mastered it, yeah," Dennis said. "Second when I started."

"That's incredible," Bill announced. "Some Cursebreakers can't do one." Dennis puffed up a little inside.

"How far down do we need to go?" he asked as they descended the third flight of stairs.

"One more, then we have to move along a corridor to the right," Bill said. "Middle of that corridor we'll find more stairs."

"Okay," Dennis replied nervously. His rabbit looked back at him, unfazed.

"Be prepared," Bill whispered as they reached the final step. "Angie, can you scout the hallway to the right?" Angelina nodded and walked off to the right. After a moment, she returned and nodded.

"Thank God," Dennis said under his breath. He and Bill turned into the corridor. The entire building was made of dark brown, almost black, bricks and Dennis was not surprised to see that it was no different here.

"The cells must be empty," Bill muttered. As they came across the first cell, he reached out and touched the metal door. It was not what Dennis associated with prisons. There weren't any bars, just one large metal door with only the smallest hole in the top. As Bill touched it, the door actually moved, creaking as it did so. "Definitely empty."

"That's a good thing, then," Dennis said as they moved along the corridor, the two Patronuses shining ahead of them, standing next to Angelina. They walked quickly but quietly past four more cells before Dennis finally saw the stairwell that they were supposed to go down.

"Four flights down, and we should be on the level with Astoria," Bill said quietly. As he spoke, Angelina growled loudly. Bill rushed to the stairwell and looked down it. If it had not been for the ox and the rabbit, there would have been a Dementor upon them.

"Won't it bring others?" Dennis asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Bill said slowly, watching the Dementor on the stairwell shying away from the light of the Patronuses. "If we move slowly, it will have to keep backing away."

Suddenly Dennis saw his rabbit Patronus flicker and extinguish. A torrent of emotion hit Dennis like a ton of bricks. Most of all, he felt guilt. Guilt for his parents. Guilt for Teddy. Even guilt for Colin. He wanted to cry at the loss of all of them, but at the same time felt too emotionally drained to cry. He felt a bony hand grasp his arm and turn him around.

He was face to face with a hooded Dementor, the face of which was, even now, shrouded in darkness. The creature moved closer and closer to Dennis' face and soon a mouth could be seen. It was a terrible, cracked red mouth that was black around the edges.

Dennis heard a growl from somewhere and suddenly the Dementor was gone from his face, the creature's grip on his arm snatched away, causing a gash to be opened in his left forearm. He saw Bill's ox appear next to him. The sight in front of Dennis was something to behold.

Angelina was on top of the Dementor, her teeth sunk in somewhere around where its chest should have been. She raised her front right leg and swiped with her claw at the face of the creature as she ripped from where her teeth had sunk in. Black smoke oozed from the Dementor like blood from the wound. As black smoke poured out of the darkest, foulest creature ever to walk the Earth, Dennis heard a sound that chilled him to his bones.

It was a wail. A piercing, high-pitched wail coming from the Dementor underneath Angelina. The walls of Azkaban shook as the wail continued. For five seconds, the sound permeated everything. Then it stopped. Angelina walked away from the fallen Dementor, black smoke pouring out of the hole she had made in the monster.

His curiosity getting the better of him, Dennis walked forward and bent down, looking into the Dementor's hood. He still couldn't see anything.

Suddenly there was a deep, rumbling roar from the stairwell.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" Dennis yelled, thinking again of his Hogwarts letter and his brother's embrace. His rabbit fled from his wand and ran straight for the stairwell. Dennis chased after it. There was another roar, but the Dementor in the stairwell fled away, gliding into the distance.

"What the hell was that?" Bill asked, sounding breathless. His eyes were on the stairwell, but when Dennis looked at him, he turned his gaze to look at the apparently dead Dementor on the floor, smoke still gushing from the chest wound. Dennis looked at Angelina who opened her jaw. As she did, small tendrils of smoke arose from her teeth and disappeared.

"Looks like Dementors _can_ be killed," a voice came from nearby. Out of a wall walked Mad-Eye, his wand raised.

"Great time for you to show up," Bill said irritably. "Dennis almost lost his soul."

"So I saw," Mad-Eye said, putting a scarred hand on Dennis' shoulder. "You right, lad?"

"I think so," Dennis confirmed, shaking.

"Good," Mad-Eye said before swiftly kneeling to look at the body of the Dementor. Mad-Eye actually lifted the hood up. He grunted. "Figures."

"We need to go," Bill said quickly. "More of them will come."

"Maybe," Mad-Eye said gruffly, using his staff to get back to his feet. "Never had one of them die before, so maybe they'll be scared. Uncharted territory, boys. Even so –"

"Constant Vigilance," Bill finished.

"Aye," Mad-Eye replied. "Let's get moving. _Expecto Patronum_!" A large grizzly bear erupted from Mad-Eye's wand and stood in front of him.

"I thought we had to go down the stairwell," Bill said as Mad-Eye walked right past it.

"You did," he replied. "I didn't have time to tell you all of the secrets of this godforsaken prison. Through the wall here."

Mad-Eye turned quickly and strolled through an empty wall. Just like at King's Cross Station, he walked right through the bricks. Bill sighed and followed the older man, his ox walking through first. Angelina walked through and Dennis looked over his shoulder at the Dementor lying motionless on the dark stone floor. He turned back and walked through the wall.

Dennis walked out into another corridor. Bill and Mad-Eye were waiting with Angelina.

"I'm pretty sure we're higher up," Bill said, annoyed.

"That we are," Mad-Eye said. "Walk down this way and we'll have another gateway to go through. That's where Astoria is."

"If you say so," Bill said as Mad-Eye walked away. He stood next to Dennis as they walked. "You okay?"

"I'm a bit shaken, but I'm okay," Dennis said truthfully. The Patronuses were making him feel much better.

"You did almost get Kissed," Bill said. Dennis shrugged.

"It had to happen sometime," Dennis said with a chuckle. Bill eyed him for a moment before laughing himself.

"You two having a good time?" Mad-Eye asked irritably.

"Would you rather us be mopey?" Bill asked.

"Suppose not," Mad-Eye responded. "But be on your guard. The gateway's right here and it opens up right out the front of her cell. They'll be guarding it. You two frighten away however many Dementors there are and I'll get in the cell. Got it?"

"Absolutely," Bill replied.

"Yep," Dennis said. Mad-Eye nodded and walked through the barrier, his grizzly following him through. Bill moved quickly and walked through, followed by Angelina. Dennis almost ran through the gateway in his haste. When he got to the other side, he saw at least five Dementors. Mad-Eye had two of them by himself, Angelina was chasing one and Bill had two shielded away from the others.

Dennis aimed his wand at the two Dementors that were being held off by Mad-Eye, whose grizzly then disappeared, leaving only Dennis' rabbit, which looked pitiful when compared to the two foul, black creatures that it was fending off. The Dementors seemed to be attacking the rabbit, moving back and taking a run at it and bouncing off of a shield that didn't seem to exist. Even with his rabbit in place, Dennis was starting to feel off. He could feel guilt rising in him again.

_No!_ he thought to himself. _Think nice thoughts!_

Colin's smiling face when Dennis received the letter.

Teddy hugging him tightly when Dennis last saw him.

His parents smiling and happy as Dennis played with Teddy in the front yard.

His nice thoughts were cut off by a rather resounding boom. Dennis' rabbit wavered for a second but regained itself.

"Mad-Eye!" Bill yelled. "You got her yet?"

"She's fine!" Mad-Eye yelled. "_Expecto Patronum_!"

Mad-Eye's grizzly ran through Dennis and straight at the attacking Dementors. Without a word they flew upwards and away from the grizzly. When it saw that they were gone, the shining bear raced back through Dennis and back towards where Bill was. Dennis turned around in time to see the Dementors fleeing. As they disappeared, Angelina bounded back towards Dennis.

"What's going on?" Dennis heard a soft voice say.

"Can you walk?" Mad-Eye asked.

"I – I think so," Astoria said quietly. "Professor Moody?"

"Long story," Bill said. Astoria's eyes widened when she saw Bill. Her face was bruised and her clothes torn. She looked to be on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry, we'll tell you later. Mad-Eye, we have to get Teddy."

"Down that way," Mad-Eye said. "There's another doorway. It'll lead into an area close by a stairwell. We'll only have two flights to go then."

"Let's go," Bill said hurriedly. "The Dementors are bound to come back now."

"Stick close to me," Mad-Eye told Astoria as she looked at Dennis, his rabbit Patronus and the werewolf form of Angelina. She looked utterly confused. Moody handed her a wand. "Don't use it unless you have to."

With that, Mad-Eye walked off as quickly as he could, given Astoria's state. The others followed close behind at his heels, Dennis and Bill's Patronuses in tow.

"Not long now," Bill said between breaths. "Not long now and we'll be back home."

Mad-Eye quickly turned into a wall and walked straight through, his wand raised. Astoria looked at the wall for a moment before following through. Dennis went through next, followed by Angelina and then Bill from behind.

"Down the stairs!" Mad-Eye said as he moved as quickly as possible, turning into the stairwell on the right. Dennis followed him in, his feet moving down each step faster than he thought possible. When Mad-Eye reached the bottom of the stairs, he shouted, "Be ready with your Patronuses!"

Dennis reached the bottom and turned to where Mad-Eye was standing. Down the hallway there were at least a dozen Dementors. Mad-Eye swore loudly.

"We move in formation!" he yelled. "Malfoy, behind me! Creevey, on my left! Weasley, my right! Johnson in front! Patronuses ahead! Just walk straight forward! They can't get through three of them!" Everyone got in position and Dennis raised his wand. His rabbit was standing on the left of Mad-Eye's grizzly which was next to Bill's ox.

"Now!" Bill yelled. In sync, all three men started to walk forward, their Patronuses mimicking every step. Angelina was in the front, snapping at the Dementors as well. The Dementors closest to the front of the group actually shied away from her, as if she was a demon. To them, she probably was.

As the three of them moved forward, the Dementors were forced to move back. They didn't even try to attack the Patronuses as they were all shrinking back from the lupine form of Angelina.

For what seemed like hours, the three men walked forward, pushing back the Dementors in front of them. Dennis found that he was barely feeling their effects and was glad for it.

"That's the one," Mad-Eye said. "The next cell. That's his."

"I'll blow it in," Dennis said. "Hold them back while I do."

The three of them walked forward ten more steps until the cell was free. Dennis then broke away from them, his rabbit disappearing. Dennis could feel some guilt creeping into his mind, but he blocked it out by focusing on the door.

"Teddy!" he called into the cell. "It's Dennis! Buddy, I need you to stand as far back as you can, alright?"

There was no response. Dennis' heart was beating faster than he had ever imagined possible.

"Teddy?" Dennis called.

"Dennis?" he heard a weak voice say.

"It's me," Dennis said, relieved. "Just stand away from the door, okay buddy?"

"I am," Dennis heard Teddy say.

"Block your ears," Dennis told his little brother just as Mad-Eye and Bill stood behind him. Dennis pointed his wand at the door. "_Bombarda Maxima_!"

The cell door burst inward and Dennis rushed in. At the very end of the cell he saw a small body.

"It's really you," Teddy said, his voice weak. He then started to sob. Dennis ran to him and scooped Teddy up into his arms. Teddy grabbed a hold of Dennis extremely tightly, as though Dennis was about to disappear. "I've got you now, buddy. I've got you."

Dennis walked out of the cell carrying his little brother in his arms. The moment he exited, he saw that all of the Dementors ahead of them were pressed up against a wall and could seemingly not move.

"We need to get through to that room," Mad-Eye said as Teddy's sobs echoed off the stone walls. Dennis noticed Astoria looking at the boy in his arms. "Would you do the honours Miss Johnson?"

Angelina growled and lunged at the Dementor nearest to her. She ripped into its abdomen and pulled away, smoke flowing out of the creature as it let out a deep wail. She quickly moved on to the next one, which she bit on the arm.

"Watch our backs, Dennis," Bill said.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" Dennis said, pointing his wand behind the two other men and Angelina who was now onto her third Dementor. Dennis' rabbit stood guard in the middle of the hallway.

"When she's cleared away the Dementors, get into that room and walk into the fireplace," Mad-Eye said quickly as Angelina gleefully tore into her sixth Dementor. The whole area in front of the group was smoky, but the Patronuses seemed to stop the smoke in its tracks. "No Floo powder. It'll take you to the roof. As soon as you get there, you get your broom out and fly."

"Who's taking Astoria?" Bill asked. Angelina was biting into the chest of a seventh Dementor.

"You've got Johnson, Creevey's got Teddy," Mad-Eye said. "I'll take her."

"Sounds good," Bill replied. There was silence except for the growling, ripping and tearing from Angelina. After another minute or so, Angelina had ripped into fifteen Dementors that were lying motionless on the floor, black smoke covering most of their corpses.

"We're good to go," Bill said.

"You first, Creevey," Mad-Eye said. "Then Bill and Johnson. I'll go after."

"Dennis, let's get it moving," Bill said quickly. Dennis stopped the Patronus and walked into the room. It was almost like a sitting room. There were two bookcases full of old tomes, a couch and a fireplace that had no fire in it. There was also a large desk that looked unused. Bill reached into his satchel. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Dennis said, taking the full-sized broom from Bill. Teddy was still clinging to him and sobbing into his shoulder, but Dennis felt better than he had in days.

"Get going as soon as you get on the roof," Mad-Eye said. "Use the navigation spell and head North. We'll meet you on the beach and we can Portkey back."

"Alright," Dennis said. He walked briskly at the fireplace and then suddenly felt a gust of wind blowing. Mad-Eye was right. He was on the roof. Dennis quickly mounted his broom. "This is going to feel weird, Teddy. Just hang on like you have been, okay?"

He felt Teddy nod into his shoulder, so he took off into the air.

"_Point_," Dennis said. His wand spun in his hand and pointed North. Dennis altered his direction and flew that way. He looked over his shoulder and saw Bill emerge on the rooftop with Angelina. He was holding his broom. He mounted it and let Angelina get in her net. He watched them take off.

That was when he saw the people flying towards the prison on broomsticks. Dennis turned on his broom quickly to signal Bill to hurry up. It was as he was doing this that he saw Angelina jump out of the net and fall to the roof, several feet below. Bill turned back to see what was going on and then saw the Death Eaters approaching.

Dennis didn't know what to do. On the one hand, he felt a strong urge to race back and help Bill and Mad-Eye, who had just appeared on the roof, fight off the Death Eaters. But on the other hand, he had a boy clinging to him, sobbing into his shoulder. Dennis felt sick as he turned away from Azkaban and flew towards the beach, not looking back.

_You'll get help_, he told himself. _Others will come and they'll be okay._

It took ten minutes, quicker than getting to the prison, to get to the beach. Dennis touched down and realised that he had no way of getting back to Number Twelve as he couldn't Apparate and didn't have a Portkey. He didn't know where Grimmauld Place even was, let alone where he was.

He started to freak out and rubbed his eyes in anger.

"Ugh!" he yelled. He then opened his eyes to see something remarkable. He was just outside of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. He ran straight for the door and shoved it open.

"_LUNA!_" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He wasn't sure why he had called for her. He ran down the hallway and into the sitting room where almost everyone was waiting.


	27. The Final Stretch

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 27**_

_**Rescue Mission VI: The Final Stretch**_

"_It eluded us then, but that's no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther … And then one fine morning - So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past._"  
\- F. Scott Fitzgerald ("The Great Gatsby")

_**Bill Weasley**_

_**6th January, 2004**_

"Watch our backs, Dennis," Bill said insistently, looking over his shoulder at the younger, mousy-brown haired man. His heart leapt at the sight of the young boy clinging to Dennis so tight that he was creating rips in the back of Dennis' jacket. The boy's hair morphed before Bill's eyes from the deepest red to the very same colour of Dennis' hair.

It was only then that Bill fully accepted just how close Teddy Lupin was with the man that had so violently been pushed into the lives of those at Number Twelve. Teddy might be the son of Remus and Tonks, but Dennis was his family now.

Dennis cast his Patronus and the silver rabbit burst forth and settled down in front of his feet. Bill looked back towards the Dementors in front of him as Angelina was ripping her way through the creatures as though they were nothing. Some of them, much to Bill's surprise, were attempting to get away, but were forced back by Mad-Eye's grizzly and Bill's ox.

"When she's cleared away the Dementors, get into that room and walk into the fireplace," Mad-Eye said, strangely missing his trademark growl. "No Floo powder. It'll take you to the roof without it. As soon as you get there, you get your broom out and fly. Understood?"

"Who's taking Astoria?" Bill asked. He looked over his shoulder again and saw Astoria watching on with a gaping mouth as Angelina tore into yet another Dementor, smoke billowing from the wound created by the werewolf, adding to the already copious amounts already in front of them. Though there was a lot of smoke, somehow it was being held back by the Patronuses.

"You've got Johnson, Creevey's got Teddy," Mad-Eye pointed out. "I'll take her."

"Sounds good," Bill replied. He paused for a few moments, expecting Astoria to ask a question or make some comment or other. She said nothing at all as Angelina snarled, ripped and tore in front of them. Soon enough, Angelina was done tearing her way through the Dementors and the smoke was starting to dissipate to reveal nothing left of the foul creatures at all.

"We're good to go," Bill said hurriedly, looking at the door ahead of him.

"You first, Creevey," Mad-Eye said, thrusting open the door and thumping through. "Then Bill and Johnson. I'll go after."

"Dennis, let's get it moving," Bill said quickly. Dennis was looking at Teddy intently but shook his head as thought to clear it when Bill spoke. Bill moved to let Dennis through, his footsteps were mingling with the sobs of the boy in his arms. Bill felt a rush of both anger and sadness, his mind filling with thoughts about what Voldemort had done to the poor little boy. He didn't allow himself to think about it too much. He would deal with it later, he decided. Bill thrust his hand into his satchel and pulled out two brooms. He pointed his wand at the broom and, without speaking a single word, the broom expanded in size. He handed it to Dennis. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Dennis said, taking the broom. He sounded much happier than he had since Bill had met him even though they were in the worst place that Bill could ever think of.

"Get going as soon as you get on the roof," Mad-Eye said, pointing at the fireplace. "Use the navigation spell and head North. We'll meet you on the beach and we can Portkey back."

Bill couldn't help but think that he should go first given that he had the Portkey, but he had no time to question Mad-Eye's orders.

"Alright," Dennis replied and walked straight into the fireplace and through the bricks. When he disappeared, Bill turned to Astoria.

"Are you okay with all of this?" Bill asked her.

"Do I have a choice?" Astoria responded.

"You do not," Mad-Eye growled. "Bill, you next. Johnson, go right after."

Bill said nothing more and walked through the fireplace, broom in hand. When he got through, he took a few steps and mounted the broom, hovering above the ground enough for Angelina, who just walked in behind him, to get in the net below.

"Ready?" he asked. Angelina barked and Bill started to take off, going higher into the air, letting Angelina get used to not having the ground beneath her. As they got about twelve feet in the air, Angelina started to growl loudly. Bill looked down at her to see her baring her teeth. "Don't worry, we did this before."

Angelina growled louder this time and barked loudly.

"It'll be fine," Bill insisted. When he looked down at the net, Angelina was already pushing her way out. Before Bill could stop her, Angelina leapt out of the net and plummeted towards the roof of Azkaban. Bill turned around, horrified and saw what Angelina had apparently seen. Five Death Eaters were approaching the towering structure on broomsticks.

"Damn it," Bill muttered before darting back toward the prison roof. As he raced downwards, he saw Mad-Eye walk out of the wall that came from the fireplace. Bill dismounted as quickly as possible and through his broom to the ground. "Five Death Eaters heading our way."

"Too damned slow," Mad-Eye grumbled.

"What's going on?" Astoria asked as she walked through from the fireplace.

"Bill, take Angelina," Mad-Eye said quickly, handing Astoria his broom. "You can fly?"

"I haven't in a while, but I should be able to," Astoria said.

"No time," Bill said, seeing the Death Eaters land on the roof. He pointed his wand at one Death Eater who was just dismounting. Bill silently fired off a Stunning Spell which hit the Death Eater square in the chest, sending him flying off the edge of the prison roof.

As the man disappeared from view, Bill felt something well up inside of him. Something that he had been missing ever since Fleur was killed. He knew he shouldn't feel it, but he did. He felt pure, unadulterated rage. He felt good knowing that he had just sent a Death Eater plummeting to his death. It was like vindication for all the wrongs he had suffered.

Without thinking, he cast another Stunner at a second Death Eater who deflected it away. In quick succession, Bill cast a bone-breaking hex, a flamethrower spell and a slicing spell at the same Death Eater that had deflected the Stunner, all aimed directly at his head. The Death Eater dodged out of the way, his robes catching on fire from the flames.

"Stay behind me," Mad-Eye said to Astoria, thrusting her behind him. Immediately he smashed his staff on the ground and a blue spell shot forth hitting the Death Eater that Bill had been fighting. "Bill! Now's not the time for revenge."

_When will it be?_ Bill thought angrily as he saw at least a dozen more Death Eaters appear on the horizon.

"We have to get away," Moody said loudly, dodging a Killing Curse which nearly hit Astoria behind him. "Brooms are out of the question."

Without saying a word, Bill raised his wand and his left hand.

"_Tueris quaerentib nocere nobille_," Bill intoned. "_Agrium circ nos_."

For a second, the Death Eaters were stopped in their tracks, as though they had hit a brick wall in front of them. The spells that had been fired were mostly stopped, though the more powerful ones still managed to get through. The physical protection only stopped them once, and they managed to penetrate the invisible shield very quickly, though the spells fired from those further back were still dissipating away.

"_Sciana_," Bill said finally and out of the solid ground in front of them grew a thick wall seemingly made out of the stone of the tower, protecting the four of them as they stood at the very top of the most feared structure in the world.

"Good thinking," Moody said as he hit a Death Eater that had made their way through the new shield faster than the others with a Stunning Spell. "How long can you hold it?"

"I can _hold_ it for well over an hour," Bill said, finally lowering his wand. "At this point it's all about will. What matters is what they do to it. If they have a reasonably skilled Curse-Breaker they could get through it pretty easily. A matter of minutes."

"Not long enough to do anti-summoning spells on your broom then," Moody said quickly. "In that case, you need to take Astoria and get out while you can. My broom has those spells. I didn't have time to do it on yours."

"What about you and Angelina?" Bill asked. As he did, he saw a dark purple spell miss Moody by centimetres. "_Sciana verlengen_." The wall that had been erected between them and the Death Eaters extended both above their heads and around them entirely. "These walls won't last once they are able to damage it with weaker spells."

"I should have been dead a dozen times over," Moody growled, trying with his gnarled hands to transfer the net from Bill's broomstick to his own. "Either my so-called _luck_ runs out right now or I manage to actually live through this."

"Through _this_?" Bill asked apprehensively.

"Well, I've not seen worse odds than this I admit," Moody said with a grotesque smile. "Some would say I've lived long enough. Maybe it's my time."

"You know I can't leave you," Bill said seriously as Moody angrily threw Bill's broomstick to the ground, the net in his hand.

"You'll do what I damn well tell you to, boy," Moody snarled. "If you don't go, and take her with you, this whole trip will have been half-wasted. The Dark Fucker knows that we're around now. His people have seen you. Undoubtedly they've seen everyone else involved at some point or another. And all to get Teddy and her out of this godforsaken fucking hole. You do NOT get to waste that. Now get on the damn broomstick, take the girl and get out."

"What about Angelina?" Bill asked, pointing at his net in Moody's hand. With a flick of his wand, Moody had the net tightly fastened around his own broomstick.

"She'll go with you," Moody said triumphantly. "My broom is designed to carry more weight than yours."

"What if they catch up with us?" Astoria asked, speaking for the first time. "This is hardly the most sound plan of all time."

"Not one part of today's plan was _sound_," Moody said bitterly. "Yet somehow here you are."

"It's starting to fall," Bill said, his mind suddenly feeling strained. "We've got about thirty seconds."

"Well now would be the time to get on the damn broomstick and fly the hell away," Moody said, forcing Bill to take the broom. "And don't you dare even think to look back."

Angelina whined.

"No," Moody said finally as Bill mounted Moody's specially designed broomstick. "This is my choice. We all knew the risks. My life has always been one damn battle after another and it's about time it ended. GO!"

Angelina licked Moody on the fingers once and got into the net below Moody's broomstick. Bill felt Astoria mount the broom and put her arms around him and squeeze him tight.

"_Bombarda_!" Moody shouted and pointed at the wall in front of Bill. Bill took off immediately, flying through the dust and debris left by Moody's spell. It was only when he was at the edge of the temporary ward that it finally fell. Bill did not look back.

"Do you know where you're going?" Astoria called, trying to be heard over the wind blowing past them.

"North," Bill replied. His wand then pointed North and he altered his direction slightly.

"How long until we get to the shore?" Astoria asked.

"Ten minutes," Bill said. It was at that moment that Angelina howled. Instinctively knowing what the howl meant, Bill pushed the broomstick downwards. He looked up and saw a Killing Curse fly through the space that his head had just occupied.

Bill finally looked back.

He saw that they were being tailed by only three Death Eaters, all of them on far faster brooms and were catching up quickly.

"_Stupefy_!" Bill heard Astoria yell. A moment later she gasped. "He fell."

"Now's not the time for guilt," Bill said. He made a sudden decision and whirled the broomstick around and looked towards the oncoming Death Eaters. "When I say 'now'." Astoria squeezed him to let him know that she understood.

"That easy?" one of the Death Eaters asked. It was a female voice that Bill didn't recognise. In fact, it sounded distinctly foreign. "Aw. Poor things."

"Kill 'em or bring 'em in?" the man with her asked. "The bitch killed Stefan."

"Bring them in, I think, Jugson" the first woman answered. Bill was certain that it was an American accent. "The Dark Lord shall be most interested."

"The man looks like a Weasley," the man replied. "They're all meant to be dead."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Bill said scornfully. "The Weasley family was always far too big to take down easily." Jugson laughed harshly.

"An understatement if ever there was one," he said.

"You'll come quietly?" the woman asked.

"Of course," Bill said. "Now!"

"_Stupefy_!" Bill and Astoria shouted together. Bill's stunner hit Jugson in the chest and he flew backwards off his broom. Astoria's spell was deflected by the American woman. Bill silently summoned the fallen man's broomstick.

"That was a mistake," the American said.

"Two of us and one of you," Bill said with a smirk.

"Five, actually," a voice said from Bill's left. Bill looked over to see Draco on one broom and Hermione and Katie on another, more worn, broom.

"How lovely," the American woman said. "Draco. What a _pleasure_ to see you."

"Joan," Draco said abruptly.

"I do seem to be outnumbered here," the American woman, Joan, said with a smile. "No matter. _Mudblood_."

She suddenly disappeared in a swirl.

"Portkey," Draco said. "Figures."

"Where's Alastor?" Hermione asked in a terrified voice.

"Only his broom was safe from being summoned," Bill said. "He stayed behind."

"At _Azkaban_?" Katie asked incredulously.

"At the very top," Bill confirmed.

"We have to go for him," Hermione said quickly. "Did you consider sticking charms?"

Bill swore violently.

"I'll take that as a 'no', then," Hermione said.

"Astoria, you take this broom back to the shore," Bill said. "Draco, you go with her."

"Shouldn't I come with you?" Draco asked.

"If the Death Eaters see you, they'll try and target you," Hermione said, pointing her wand at the broom between her and Katie's legs. "Bill's right, you need to go back."

"Exactly," Bill replied. "Hermione and Katie will come with me. Sorry Angelina, but there's nothing more I can do."

Angelina barked and somehow sounded as though she was perfectly fine with the decisions being made.

"How many were there?" Hermione asked as Bill helped Astoria onto Jugson's broomstick.

"A dozen," Bill said. "Probably more by now. Too many even for Moody."

"We have to be quick," Hermione said before looking to Draco and Astoria. "Get back to Number Twelve as soon as you can. Don't send anyone else."

"Are you sure I can't be of any help?" Draco asked.

"Look after Alicia and Teddy," Katie said. "Now go!"

With that, the group went in opposite directions, Draco and Astoria away from Azkaban and the rest directly towards it.

_We're insane_, Bill thought as the prison once again came into view. _Maybe not all of us_.

The Death Eaters were now all standing on the prison roof.

"Try not to kill them!" Hermione shouted. Bill wanted to protest, feeling once again what he had felt earlier as he saw the group of black-hooded people all huddled together, as though around some fight between kids. It was a rage that built up inside of him and all he could think about was to avenge Fleur.

_Now's not the time for revenge_, Moody said in Bill's mind. It calmed him somewhat and he realised that Hermione was right. If they didn't have to, they shouldn't kill.

"As soon as we get close, fire as many stunners as you can," Bill called out. He looked over at Katie and Hermione who both nodded. "If we're lucky we'll get them all down quickly."

As they came closer to the roof of Azkaban, Bill saw that there were now close to twenty Death Eaters there, mostly with their backs turned to them.

"_Stupefy_!" Bill shouted, pointing his wand at the Death Eater that had just spotted them.

"_Stupefy_!" Katie and Hermione shouted together just moments after Bill had sent his Stunner to hit the Death Eater square in the chest. The other two stunners hit the backs of two different Death Eaters. As Bill fired off another, the rest of the Death Eaters finally recognised their presence and turned. Quickly, another fell to Bill's spell and swiftly after another two from Katie and Hermione.

"_Amplis Stupefy_!" Bill shouted and moved his wand to encompass the area where most of the Death Eaters were standing. From that spell alone, four Death Eaters fell. This wider ranged version of the Stunning Spell was better to use against large groups, but had lesser effectiveness and took more out of any user.

There were nine Death Eaters left and Bill was suddenly starting to feel the effects of the magic that he had been forced to use. He decided that it was time for a distraction move. He deftly dodged a pale yellow spell, which he knew would have caused him a great deal of nausea. Angelina growled below at the quickness of the movement, but Bill pressed onwards. He leaned forward and hurtled towards the group of Death Eaters remaining on the roof of Azkaban.

He could see their shocked faces as he pushed Moody's broom as fast as it could possibly go, aiming straight for the people in front of him. Some of them jumped out of the way but one of them was apparently too shocked to move. Bill rammed into him, shoulder to shoulder. Bill heard something crack, but didn't feel any pain other than what would be expected so he assumed it must have been the other man.

After taking down that man, he flew over Moody who was writhing on the ground. Bill was going fast, so couldn't see very well but he did manage to see the growing pool of blood surrounding the old man. He was moving however, which was a good sign.

Bill slowed the broom down and whirled around quickly.

"You okay Angie?" he asked quickly. Angelina barked. Bill laughed. The Death Eaters were now all looking at him as Hermione and Katie swiftly took down three more. As Bill was moving to rush them once again, he was stopped by a terrible sound.

It was a great shrieking sound that was far worse than anything Bill had ever heard before in his life. It went on for only a few seconds, but when it finished, he heard Angelina howling.

Everything was silent for a moment and then there was a great, earth-shattering crack that seemed to permeate everything. Bill watched as the Death Eaters suddenly lost their balance and seemed to slide down the roof together and towards the ground and water below.

Azkaban was leaning.

The shrieking started again. It was so incredibly loud, but Bill did not dare let go of his broomstick for even one second. He heard the entirety of the pained, echoing, grating scream that he would never forget. Then there was a second earth-shattering crack followed by a low rumbling sound. As Bill watched, the Death Eaters were struggling to their feet and trying in vain to scramble up the crumbling Azkaban.

It was then that Bill saw Moody slowly sliding down as well.

Bill rushed forward just as Moody's body fell off the now-slanted edge of Azkaban. Bill went into a dive for a moment and then evened out. When he came to be underneath the falling Moody, he let go of the broomstick and held on as tight as he could with his legs. He quickly stashed his wand inside his robes and held out his arms.

Moody's heavy body fell into Bill's arms and together they started to plummet to the ocean below. Bill tried desperately to control the broom with his legs. He was pushing down with the front of his feet on the end, trying to even the flight path. Moody's weight was simply too much and without his own hands, he couldn't control anything. He couldn't even see the ocean in front of him because of Moody's body.

The broom evened out on its own. That was what seemed to happen from Bill's perspective at least.

"_Mobilicorpus_," Hermione said and instantly Moody's weight seemed to lift from Bill's arms.

"We need to get away," Katie said quickly. "The prison's gone and the Dementors are coming up to us."

Bill did feel the coldness upon him in that moment and as he did he heard Angelina growl and bark.

"How fast can you go with him?" Bill asked Hermione.

"Not too fast," she said. "But fast enough. Dementors can't move very fast over long distances."

"Alright," Bill said, listening to the faster barking from Angelina. "You two lead on and I'll follow."

Katie nodded and the broomstick that she was controlling moved forward, slowly at first but faster when Hermione prompted. Bill looked down and saw half a dozen Dementors rising towards him.

"Hold on down there," Bill said. He then flew forward to follow right behind Katie, Hermione and Moody, who was apparently unconscious and no longer losing blood, next to her. Bill looked over his shoulder after a moment and saw the Dementors still chasing them. Hermione was right. They weren't fast enough. Slowly but surely, they fell behind. Bill didn't even feel the need to cast his Patronus.

For the most part it wasn't the Dementors that he was watching. Behind the six that were chasing him, dozens, if not hundreds, of Dementors swarmed around the crumbling Azkaban prison that quickly fell to the ground into nothing but dust and pieces of dark black stone. When it finally crumbled into nothingness, the trailing Dementors were far enough away that Bill let out a sigh of relief. It was then that he heard it.

It was like the shriek earlier, but somehow sounded more beautiful. It didn't sound like something that came from a Dementor. It was high and melodic. The only thing that Bill could equate it to was the song of a Phoenix. Except unlike the Phoenix song, which triggered pleasant memories of Bill's past life, this song triggered unhappy memories. He remembered leaning on Charlie and Fleur as they walked away from Hogwarts and the smell of burning flesh. He remembered the grief and pain of the moment they all got to Shell Cottage. He remembered Fleur's death. He remembered the lonely nights at Number Twelve, wondering what he would do without her.

He didn't even feel the tears streaming down his face until the song stopped. He had not stopped moving, and neither had Katie and Hermione, but he did not remember even approaching the shore. He flew down and met the two of them.

"That was …" Katie began, shaking. She was not crying, but Hermione was.

"Horrific," Bill finished.

"We need to go," Hermione said stiffly as though the words would push away the memories. Bill reached into Moody's jacket pocket and pulled out the piece of rope that they had used to get here before.

"I'll hold Moody," he said. "Angelina, make sure to bite it like you did before."

Bill reached over and grabbed the unconscious Mad-Eye Moody by the arm. When he lifted it, he finally noticed what had been the source of all of the blood around him. The Death Eaters had cut his left arm off at the elbow. It seemed as though they had also used fire to cauterise the wound as the arm of Moody's jacket was burned at the end.

"Those bastards," Bill spat.

"We need to get him to Ginny now," Hermione said firmly. Bill nodded and grabbed Moody by the upper arm as hard as he could.

"Fawkes," he said. There was a pull at his navel and a moment later, they all found themselves outside of Number Twelve. Ginny, Hestia and Dedalus were all waiting. Hestia and Dedalus ran forwards when they saw Moody.

"Merlin, what happened?" Hestia asked as Dedalus quickly levitated Moody inside of Number Twelve followed swiftly by Ginny who didn't say a word.

"Death Eaters. We'll tell you more inside," Bill said wearily. "Did Draco and Astoria get back alright?"

"They got here about twenty minutes before you," she confirmed. "What happened?"

"Azkaban's gone," Katie said, her voice trailing off.

"Gone?" Hestia asked sharply. "What do you mean, 'gone'?"

"The Dementors revolted," Bill said. "Or at least, that's what I think happened. They destroyed it. It's rubble now."

Hestia let out a long sigh. When they walked through the door to Number Twelve, she turned to Bill.

"We still haven't had word from Charlie," she said quietly.

"What?" Bill asked quickly. "What about Charlie?"

"Didn't anyone tell you?" Hestia asked.

"Tell me what?" Bill demanded, grabbing Hestia gently by the arm.

"I told Alastor not to tell you," Hermione said. "He agreed that it was best that you focus on what you needed to."

"What happened to Charlie?" Bill demanded again.

"He led a bunch of Death Eaters into the Forbidden Forest and we didn't see him come out again," Hestia said as softly as she could. Bill started to shake. "We haven't seen or heard from him since then."

"You just left him behind?" Bill asked quietly. "You just left him there?"

"If we went looking for him, we would have been caught," Hestia said. She reached out for Bill's shoulder but he pulled away and turned for the door.

"I'm going to Hogwarts," he said firmly. He felt Hermione and Katie both stop him.

"No," Hestia said. "There's no use you going now. If he was captured, there's nothing you can do. If he was killed, there's nothing you can do. If he's still out there, he'll find his way back."

"I don't care," Bill said. "I'm going for him now."

"You think I don't want to rush out there right now and get him back?" Hermione snapped. "Of course I do. Maybe even more than you do. Charlie knew the risks. He knew what might happen, and so did we. We need to wait for any news. You have others to worry about, Bill. If you go and don't come back, what are we going to tell Victoire and Louis?"

Bill looked at her with loathing written all over his face. To her credit, Hermione did not shy away from the stare. Bill was not sure how long he stood there looking at Hermione, but after some time, he finally turned and stomped away towards the living room.


	28. The Truth

**_**Disclaimer: **_**__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes.__

* * *

**_**Chapter 28**_**

**_**The Truth**_**

"__Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors__."  
\- Andrew Boyd ("Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the Universe")

**_**Justin Finch-Fletchley**_**

**_**4**_****_**th **_****_**January, 2003**_**

"I think Pansy's cheating on me," Zach said as he pulled Justin closer to him. They were laying in Justin's bed, Zach's arms holding him. Justin felt his heartbeat quicken even further at the comment.

"What makes you say that?" he asked, trying to sound as blasé as possible. He was never too good at this kind of deception, but he thought he was pulling it off well enough.

"I can just tell," Zach replied, his head pushing further into Justin's shoulder. "She's always somewhere else, with someone else. She claims that it's her family, but whenever I'm around her family, they don't seem all that close, really, and you'd think they would be if she saw them as often as she claims."

"Well, even if she is, does it really matter?" Justin asked, his mind on Daphne's plan. "I mean, you're not exactly staying monogamous yourself, you know." Zach laughed quietly.

"No, I suppose not given the, uh, circumstances," he said, laughing again. "I just thought it might be an out for me."

"What good does it do you right now?" Justin pointed out. "If it got out that Pansy's cheating on you, and then you get granted a divorce, you would just be forced to marry someone else, right? You'll just get put in exactly the same situation."

"No, I know that," Zach said. "I just meant eventually. When the time comes, I'll have a reason to get rid of her."

"Hopefully sooner rather than later," Justin said, kissing Zach on the cheek. "We don't get nearly enough time for this."

"No, we don't," Zach said, smiling contently. "But, hey. If Pansy __is __cheating on me, we'll have more time for this."

"Whatever you do, don't get caught," Justin said seriously. "It's better for you if she's the one that's caught."

"Don't worry," Zach said, sitting up and putting his back against the headboard. "I've hidden you from a lot of people over the years. I'm not going to mess up so badly that Pansy Parkinson, of all people, figures it out. Well, Pansy Smith I guess now. Ugh."

"I do worry," Justin said as Zach pulled the covers up further. Despite the heating in Justin's house the room was still cold. "Until I know you're safe, I'll worry about you."

"As cute as that is, you don't have to worry," Zach said. "I won't get caught. Even if I was caught, the most Pansy could accuse me of is being unfaithful, and I doubt that You-Know-Who will do much to me for that. He's got bigger worries, I'm sure."

"And if it comes out that it's a __guy __you're cheating with?" Justin asked sceptically. "You said it yourself, You-Know-Who needs the people left over from the War to have babies. Last time I checked, neither of us can have babies."

"Not for a lack of trying," Zach said with a smile. Justin couldn't help but laugh.

"Be that as it may, that's not even the big issue," he said, becoming serious again. "I'm a Muggle-born. If you're found with me, you'll be branded a traitor and you'll be killed. I couldn't bear that."

"First of all, I won't let anyone find out, okay? Just trust me on that," Zach said, kissing Justin lightly. "Secondly, if we are found out, it won't just be me killed."

"I know, but I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about you," Justin replied. "No matter what happens to me, if I'm found, I'm a dead man. You need not be as well."

"You know, I could get used to you being so cute all the time," Zach said with a big smile. "I won't let anyone find out. End of story, okay?"

"Okay," Justin said grudgingly. There was a part of him that was really more concerned than he would let on. Not because he didn't trust Zach's ability to keep a secret, but because the world of magic was no longer as simple as it had been. There had always been ways of finding out things like this, but at least that was halted by laws and rules. Now, though, there was no one enforcing those rules. _How many people have the Ministry executed since coming into power? Hundreds, surely_, Justin thought. _That's the world he's living in now, and it's not safe, no matter how well he can keep a secret_. And that wasn't even taking into account the plan that Daphne wanted to implement. So much was riding on Zach, and not only does Zach not know it, he's also not the only person who controls what happens. "Let's forget the whole thing. We've got the whole day together for the first time in what seems like years. No point wasting it feeling sorry for ourselves, right?" Zach kissed Justin for quite a long time after that.

Later the two of them were sitting in the lounge room, when Zach looked to Justin with a concerned look on his face.

"Is there really anyone else out there who will fight against the Ministry, now?" he asked. "I mean, we haven't really heard anything about any kind of rebellion since Xenophilius Lovegood was killed. There were some rumblings that someone attacked Greyback not that long ago, but that never came to anything. We, and Susan, might be the only three people who will ever be willing to do anything, and let's face it. You and Susan can't do too much at the moment."

"We have to believe that there are others," Justin said, thinking about Daphne. "If not here in Britain, maybe somewhere else. The rest of the world will surely come to oppose You-Know-Who if he gets too powerful. Hell, after taking France, maybe some are already moving to do something about it."

"We can't know that," Zach said morosely. "Most international communities decided long ago not to get involved in the affairs of anyone else. It's why Grindelwald was able to do everything he did. You-Know-Who for that matter, as well. And here in Britain all the people who could ever have done anything about it are dead. You-Know-Who has whittled down our country and now there isn't anyone that appear to be prepared to take up arms against him and the Ministry. Even if there are a few, the numbers would be so small that virtually nothing could come of it.

The two sat in silence for a few moments.

"Ever think of running away to Australia?" Justin said. Both of them started laughing after a moment. "No, I know you couldn't. I understand. Something will happen eventually. I just know it will. When it does, you and I will join and help when we can. Susan, too. Until that day, we have to live in hope. It sounds naïve, and annoyingly optimistic, I know. We just have to."

"You're probably right," Zach said with a sigh. "It's just frustrating to see the world I grew up in crumbling to dust."

An hour after that conversation, Zach left the house and Justin had nothing but his thoughts and an ignored television showing the news.

While he was at Hogwarts, it had never truly felt as though there was a War actually being waged in the Wizarding World. At first it was the isolation of the school that likely shielded him from what was actually going on. Then, after Fourth Year, the Ministry and _The Daily Prophet_ spent all of their time attempting to deny the existence of any kind of evil group and just slandered the only two people who were trying to speak up about it. At first, he had bought into the articles he read, that said that Dumbledore was a crackpot and Harry was crazy, but eventually he realised that there had to be some kind of truth to it. It was frightening that the mythical Dark Lord had risen again, but he was still set apart from the worst. He was a Muggle-born so he wasn't personally affected by the first time Voldemort tried to take power, and then he was at Hogwarts most of the time, so he didn't see what was really going on. He was scared, but never knew how scared to actually be.

Susan had become his main point of reference at that point to work out how to take any news of Voldemort's resurrection. Susan had experienced first hand what Voldemort and his wars could do, as most of her family had been murdered by Voldemort himself or by some of his followers. She told him that her aunt, Amelia, had believed Harry and Dumbledore from the very start, but was highly reluctant to say so due to the massive attempted slander that was going on at the time. She couldn't risk her job, especially given how well-placed she was in the Ministry to help in the fight against Voldemort when it came to light. At the end of the day, Justin saw Susan being calm about the idea, and so Justin himself tried to remain as calm as possible.

Even when Amelia Bones had been killed, Justin still hadn't seen the War for what it actually was. She had been killed over the summer holidays and, as a result, by the time that he had returned to Hogwarts, he had missed most of Susan's reactions to it. Of course, ha had noticed a rather marked change in her, but that was only to be expected. But most of the time, she was the same old Susan, and that, Justin now believed, filled him with a false sense of security.

Following that year, Justin and his family had to go into hiding because of Dumbledore's death. Some of the severity dawned on him at that point, but part of him just expected Harry to rise above everything and vanquish Voldemort again. Perhaps it was still some of that crush he'd had, but he really did think it would happen. It wasn't until after Voldemort's complete ascent that he finally understood just how terrible things had gotten, and by that point he could do nothing about it.

Justin turned off the television and was enveloped in darkness. For a few minutes, he continued to sit and think. After some time, he decided to cook himself some dinner. __There's no point worrying about what you can't change__, he told himself, but he wasn't sure that it actually helped.

The next two days went by without issue. He didn't see Zach at all during that time, but Susan had come along each day to talk, watch television and to practice Occlumency with him. Justin was beginning to get reasonably good at it, and found that it was helping him in other aspects of his life. It was on the third day with Susan that he had his first major Occlumency breakthrough.

"I couldn't get through," Susan said excitedly as Justin felt his head begin to throb. "That's great, Jus! No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find a way to get through."

"As good as that is, I don't think I could withstand it much more than I already have," Justin said with a wry smile. "That was tough enough."

"It'll get easier, I promise," Susan said with a broad smile. "We'll leave it for today, though. You look out of it."

"Sounds good to me," Justin said. "I think I'll just get myself a drink. You want one?"

"Water would be good," Susan said.

"Won't be long," Justin said and quickly gathered together two glasses of water. While he could use his wand to do so, he had gotten used to the Muggle way of doing things, and still did them that way. "By the way, you mentioned there was some news when you came in."

"Oh, yeah," Susan said, taking the glass. "It's not much. Only from talk I gathered in Hogsmeade. I didn't hear much."

"When were you in Hogsmeade?" Justin asked.

"Last night, after I left your place," Susan replied. "I decided to see if I could get some information about what's going on, so I went to the Hog's Head."

"Who runs that now?" Justin asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Susan said thoughtfully. "Not Aberforth, that's for sure. He was in the Great Hall. That portrait of his is still there, though."

"I figured. Even if he hadn't been in there, he'd have been killed for sure," Justin said sombrely. "What was the news?"

"It was pretty loud in there, so I didn't really hear much," Susan explained. "But based on what I gleamed, there was some kind of attack. People mentioned Hogwarts."

"Why would anyone attack Hogwarts?" Justin asked. "It's abandoned, isn't it?"

"Last time I checked, yes," Susan confirmed. "As I said, I didn't hear all that much. Whatever happened, it's got a lot of people talking. I haven't seen that many witches and wizards in one place since, well, when I was supposed to be executed."

"Zach probably knows what's going on," Justin commented. "I'm sure he'll be here as soon as he can be. If this is as big a deal as it seems, we need to know. There might be some kind of resistance group out there. If there is, we need to join them, and soon."

"I agree with you, but we don't know everything yet," Susan pointed out. "Let's wait for some concrete information before we commit to anything. Besides, even if this was a resistance group, and even __if __we knew who they were, how would we go about finding them?"

"That's a fair point," Justin said. "Even so, just knowing would be a morale boost, if only for Zach. He needs it right about now. So do I, if I'm being honest."

"Same here," Susan said sadly. "The last few years have been hell for me. I went from being at least semi-active in a resistance movement to doing nothing, and it's taking its toll. I don't want to hide forever, not knowing whether the world will ever get back to how it was. How it's supposed to be. I need to know that something is being done."

"We'll know soon enough, I suppose," Justin said with a fake cheeriness. "Let's do something else. I've got Monopoly. Not the best two-person game, but its fun enough." Susan laughed.

"We haven't played Monopoly in a long time," she said as Justin got up to grab it off a nearby shelf. "I remember one summer, you brought it over to my place, and we were with Hannah and Ernie. I'm surprised we all got out of that one alive."

"Ernie never was a good loser," Justin said. "I'll never forget how angry he got."

"It was a sight to behold," Susan said as she cleared the coffee table to make room for the game. "Here's hoping we can be civil about this."

"Of course we can," Justin said with a laugh. "It was always Hannah and Ernie who weren't civil."

"I was civil on the outside," Susan said, smiling. "Inside I was seething."

"I'm just that good," Justin said, puffing out his chest.

"It's a Muggle game," Susan said, hitting Justin on the arm as he set out the board. "Of course you were the best. I don't recall you ever winning one game of Exploding Snap."

"That's a stupid game," Justin replied, causing Susan to burst out laughing.

"Now who's the sore loser?" she said after a while. Before she could say anything further, there was a loud crack in the room, and Susan had her wand in her hand in seconds. Justin, however, didn't even reach for his in that time.

"No time for that shit, Bones," Daphne said, before turning to Justin. "We've got some problems."

"What's going on here?" Susan asked, not lowering her wand.

"It's okay," Justin said. "You can trust Daphne. We've been in contact for a few months now."

"Why?" Susan asked, confused but lowering her wand.

"Justin can fill you in afterwards," Daphne said quickly. "I don't have very long, so I need to be quick. The tables have been turned on us."

"What happened?" Justin asked, his heart starting to race.

"Blaise and Pansy have accused myself and Zacharias, not only of infidelity, but also of aiding rebels," Daphne said quickly.

"Rebels? You mean me?" Justin asked. Daphne shook her head.

"There was an attack two days ago," she explained. "On the afternoon of the sixth. A lot happened. The gist of it was that Draco Mafoy helped three people escape an execution and then disappeared, someone was going around the country saying You-Know-Who's name, people were disturbing the wards at Hogwarts, more people infiltrated the Ministry and stole the lists that they use to track down Muggle-born children and Azkaban was raided and, eventually, destroyed. By the Dementors who revolted for some reason. Blaise and Pansy are accusing Zach and I of helping this happen."

"Damn," Justin said. "That really all happened?"

"It did, yes," Daphne said, her eyes darting to the windows. "The Ministry also caught someone during the attack, but they aren't letting on who they caught, or even who was involved. It's all very hush-hush, and I don't know a lot myself."

"And now they think that you and Zach are involved?" Justin asked.

"Seems so," Daphne replied. "We're due to appear at some kind of court in the next few days. Luckily, we don't have to be detained, as we should be watched soon."

"The Ministry just believes them?" Justin asked.

"It's fairly easy at the moment," Daphne said hurriedly. "My sister was arrested and sent to Azkaban about a week ago. That's probably why Draco did what he did. But now it looks like I helped these rebels get to Azkaban and get my sister out."

"Did you?" Justin asked.

"No," Daphne said with a sigh. "I have absolutely no idea what happened the last few days. But that doesn't matter to them. What I want you to do, is still keep our discussions to yourself. I might be able to come up with a way out of this, and I think it will be easier if I can account for Zacharias' ignorance."

"I'll do anything I can to help," Justin said. "I swear."

"Thank you," Daphne said with a smile. "I should go now, otherwise they might think I've fled to join the rebels or some other such nonsense. If I can, I'll be in contact."

"Good luck," Justin said. Daphne nodded and disapparated with a crack.

For a few moments, neither Justin nor Susan said anything.

"What the hell was that all about?" Susan demanded.

"I suppose it's kind of necessary to tell you everything," Justin said. "Let me just start out by saying that I didn't keep this from you because I didn't trust you. I kept it from you because Daphne asked me to tell no one."

"I'm listening," Susan said with a curious look on her face.

And so, Justin told her it all, without missing anything out. It felt good to be able to share this with someone for once.

"So, basically, the plan was to get the two marriages broken up, so they were free to do more to rebel," Justin finished. "Thoughts?"

"It's quite the plan," Susan said after a moment. "I imagine it would have worked if Blaise and Pansy were as stupid as they seem. Zach doesn't know any of it?"

"Nothing," Justin confirmed. "He has a suspicion that Pansy's cheating, but I've managed to convince him that it's in his best interest that he waits for a while longer. The longer it takes for him to act, the better chance of the divorce succeeding with no issues. Of course, that might well be a moot point now."

"I must say, it had a certain elegance to it, that plan," Susan said. "It's unfortunate it didn't work. What's the plan now?"

"I have no idea," Justin admitted. "Daphne has been the one with all the ideas before now."

"If she has proof of Blaise and Pansy's affair, that might help," Susan mused. "But I don't think the rebellion part will be so easily quashed."

"Daphne did say that one of the rebels was captured," Justin suggested. "Perhaps they can get them to testify in some way. Under Veritaserum."

"They'll just say that he had his knowledge of them wiped from his memories entirely," Susan said. "Or that Zach and Daphne never revealed their true identities to them. Something like that. Aunt Amelia always said that Veritaserum was often not exactly reliable."

"There might still be something," Justin said. "I just can't see one."

"On a more positive note, there is a rebel group out there," Susan pointed out with a smile. "There are people out there right now, fighting the Ministry."

"And Draco Malfoy!" Justin said suddenly. "Who would have thought he had it in him?"

"Maybe it's a group of disgruntled Death Eaters or something," Susan suggested. "We should think about places to look for them."

"I thought you didn't know how we would find a resistance group," Justin said with a slight smile.

"I did, and I stand by that statement," Susan said. "That doesn't mean we shouldn't try. At the very least it will give me something to do."

"But if it is disgruntled Death Eaters, would it really be that good an idea to get involved with them?" Justin asked. "I mean, they're still Death Eaters after all. I'm not so sure I believe that 'the enemy of my enemy' stuff."

There was a muffled pop outside, and then a frantic knock on the front door. Justin and Susan both grabbed their wands, and Justin looked out of the window.

"It's Zach," he said quickly. "Remember, he can't know about Daphne, and he can't know that we know what has happened."

"Okay, just open the door," Susan said, and Justin rushed to obey.

"Hey Zach," he said cheerily. "It's great to see you so soon. Wait, what's wrong?"

"I don't have long, so I'll just tell you," Zach said glumly. "There was an attack on the Ministry and thanks to Blaise and Pansy, I'm a suspect. Same with Blaise's wife, Daphne, remember her? They're claiming me and Daphne are cheating, and that we had something to do with the attack."

"Oh, God," Justin said as Susan moved to hug Zach. "What's going to happen?"

"The Ministry are going to monitor me when I get to my parents' home," Zach explained. "I have to be there in five minutes. We'll have a trial in a few days, both for a divorce and about the resistance movement. What do I do, Jus?"

"You are innocent on both counts," Justin said fervently as he hugged his boyfriend and kissed his cheek. "You have had nothing to do with Daphne or the rebels. Just tell the truth. That's all you can do."

"I don't want to die, Jus," Zach said, tears now flowing down his cheeks.

"You won't," Justin said, wiping the tears from his face. "I'll tear the place down to get you back if necessary, you hear me?"

"And I'll be right there beside him," Susan said, smiling. "Brave heart, Zacharias. You'll get through this."

"Thank you both so much," Zach said, wiping the rest of the tears away. He hugged Susan and then kissed Justin passionately. "I love you so much, you know that?"

"I love you too," Justin said. "I'll see you in a few days."

"I hope so," Zach said with a small smile.

"Good luck," Susan said. Zach squeezed her arm and then kissed Justin again before turning and disapparating. Justin let out a shuddering sigh.

"I can't bear the thought of losing him," he said quietly.

"We need a plan," Susan said quickly.

"A plan?" Justin asked dumbly.

"Of course," Susan replied. "We need to be able to do whatever we can to help Zach and Daphne. If they fail to convince the Ministry that they weren't involved, we need to be there to get them out."

"Any ideas?" Justin asked.

"Not at the moment, no," Susan replied. "But we'll come up with one."

"As I was saying, the resistance group might not be the best idea," Justin said. "If they are Death Eaters, that is. We'd still need to find them to find out."

"It's certainly an option, but it's not exactly foolproof," Susan said thoughtfully. "If we knew someone other than Malfoy who was involved, perhaps we could find them a bit easier. As it is, we have no leads on who they are, what they plan to do and where they're hiding out. There's just not enough information."

"We know that they have to be okay with saying You-Know-Who's name," Justin said, and Susan looked at him oddly. "Daphne said that someone was going around the country shouting it. That means they have to be fine with saying it. There are very few people alive who would be."

"The problem is, we don't know who's alive and who isn't, let alone whether they would be comfortable saying the name," Susan said. "But it's interesting, nonetheless. What about the goblins? I doubt they are huge supporters of the current Ministry. Perhaps we could somehow use their influence. No, even if we could contact them, what could they do? And why would they ever trust us? Humans have never been particularly good to them. No, not the goblins. If Polgara was still alive, we might have been able to use her in some capacity to get some Elves on our side, but not anymore."

"So we can't do anything, then?" Justin asked.

"Don't count us out just yet, Jus," Susan said, her eyes suddenly bright. "We may not have a lot going for us, but we do have one advantage."

"What's that?" Justin asked hopefully.

"The Invisibility Cloak."


	29. Outcast

**_**Disclaimer: **_**__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes.__

* * *

__**Chapter 29**__

**_**Outcast**_**

"__Half of the time I don't know what they're talking about; their jokes seem to relate to a past that everyone but me has shared. I'm a foreigner in the world and I don't understand the language__."  
\- Jean Webster ("Daddy Long Legs")

**_**Draco Malfoy**_**

**_**7**_****_**th **_****_**January, 2004**_**

When Dennis had barged into Grimmauld Place, screaming for Luna Lovegood of all people, Draco had been one of the first to reach him at the doorway, preceded only Hermione and Luna herself. When they saw him with the boy, who Draco could only assume was Teddy Lupin, they all breathed a sigh of relief until Dennis explained just what had caused his cry for help.

Upon hearing the story from Dennis, there were several things that had gone through Draco's mind. First and foremost, he wanted nothing more than to bolt out the front door and head straight for Azkaban. When the rational part of his brain, a part that sounded suspiciously like his father, kicked in, Draco realised that doing that would be the biggest, and possibly final, mistake that he would ever make. Following that, he wanted to pull out his wand and curse Dennis for not going back to help get Astoria out. Then his eyes settled on the terrified, ragged child in Dennis' arms and he knew that the right thing had been done. The final thing that went through his mind was that he wanted to cry.

It was actually Draco who had been the one to suggest that some of them go to Azkaban to help, an idea which Hermione almost instantly agreed with and offered to go. Luna wasn't quite happy with that, as Hermione had taken a very bad bump during the raid on the Ministry, but Hermione was not to be stopped and ran back inside to get more help, which came in the form of Hestia, Dedalus and Katie. Hermione explained that only three people were going to go as they didn't want to lose anyone else if things went badly. Katie spoke up at that idea and said that, since she was the least important of the three who offered to go, she should be the one. It also helped that she could fly a broom and Hermione couldn't, something that Draco couldn't comprehend.

Before they could reach Azkaban, however, they ran into Bill and Astoria fleeing the prison without Moody. Though he did wish to help, Hermione and Bill convinced Draco to get Astoria back to Number Twelve, not only for her own safety but his as well. Bill gave Astoria a broom that Draco didn't recognise as his, as he was using Moody's at the time, and Draco and his wife set off to the shore, neither speaking a single word to each other until they were on solid ground again.

When they had reached the shore, Draco checked on Astoria, who suddenly collapsed. Draco then quickly grabbed her and used the Portkey to get to Grimmauld Place. From there, Astoria was under Ginny's care.

Not long after Draco returned, Bill, Hermione, Katie and werewolf-Angelina arrived with a badly wounded Moody. The Death Eaters had cut his left arm off at the elbow, an act that Draco was not surprised in the slightest to see as he had lived among Death Eaters his entire life, and he knew for a certainty that, for some of them, the idea of destroying the great Alastor Moody's body piece by piece was a fantasy. Draco shuddered to think just what kind of fantasy it might actually be for some of them.

It was the destruction of Azkaban that had surprised Draco more than anything else. If Bill, Hermione and Katie were to be believed, the Dementors rose up and destroyed the prison themselves. The most frightening assumption that Draco took from that was that the Dementors were now loose in the world, and would likely be looking for vengeance.

Draco couldn't help but look at Angelina who was making her way upstairs, presumably for her own bed, in some kind of awe. When Bill recounted the story of what happened at Azkaban, he had said that somehow Angelina killed Dementors. Not just one. A lot of Dementors. In one day, Draco's entire view of those foul creatures had changed. They were not immortal, unkillable, soul-sucking beasts. Not all of the time, anyway. He found himself wishing that the Full Moon happened more than just once a month.

The sun was not long up, and Draco was sitting beside Astoria's bed. She had not awakened since she collapsed, though Draco was not concerned. He knew that this was one of the effects when someone went from direct contact with Dementors to none at all too quickly. Even though Astoria had only been there for a few days, she still was affected. Ginny, not well-versed in Dementor-related maladies, simply left a bar of chocolate with Draco with strict orders to make Astoria eat when she woke up. It was probably the best course of action, Draco decided. Dementor exposure couldn't be helped with much else.

"Are you hungry?" The voice was so sudden that it made Draco jump and reach for his wand, but when he turned he saw Luna in the doorway with a plate of what looked to be bacon and eggs. "I didn't mean to frighten you, Draco."

"It's fine," Draco said, putting his wand down. "You know, I am hungry come to think of it."

Luna smiled and walked to Draco, handing him the plate as well as a knife and fork. She then pulled up a chair next to him and looked at Astoria.

"Dementor's are terrible creatures," she said knowingly. "Daddy visited Azkaban once when I was very young to study them for a piece in __The Quibbler__. When he returned, he had a look on his face that I had never seen before and I have never seen since. Not even when Mummy died. And he was only there for a few hours. Astoria will get through this."

"I think so, too," Draco said, eating some egg and deciding not to comment on Luna's father's magazine. "Not that we have a lot to base that on, really. Not many people who went into Azkaban ever came out, and those that did were removed carefully so as to avoid this."

"Hermione once told me about Sirius Black," Luna said airily. "He escaped Azkaban and he survived it. And he was there far longer than Astoria."

"I suppose," Draco said. "She shouldn't have been there in the first place."

"Perhaps not," Luna said with a smile. "But if she had not done what she did for Dennis and Patrick, they might well be dead now. She saved their lives, and she still lives. I would say that is a fair trade."

"You're forgetting the part about the Dementors," Draco said, slightly annoyed at Luna's flippancy.

"No, I don't believe I am," Luna replied, her demeanour not changing in the slightest. "It still remains, though, that her act of selflessness has allowed for a great many things to be achieved in the last twenty-four hours. We broke a child out of Azkaban under the nose of the Death Eaters. We stole two of the most important documents in all of magical Britain, saving the lives of countless Muggle-borns and their families in the process. Azkaban is gone. The Dementors may not be allied with You-Know-Who anymore. We took the Elder Wand."

"Those things are all well and good, but there are problems," Draco said coldly. "The loss of those documents could have untold consequences. Perhaps the Dark Lord will take it upon himself to start murdering random Muggles now. Even if the Dementors aren't allies of the Dark Lord, they are still out there. Hundreds of them. And they can only be killed on the Full Moon by werewolves, it seems. On the loss side of things, we lost not only a valuable informant, but also Charlie. Not only that, but Moody has lost an arm. As for the so-called 'Elder Wand', I don't want it." He reached into his pocket, pulled out the wand and thrust it towards Luna, who looked oddly shocked.

"It is yours by right of conquest," she said, not yet grasping the wand. Draco scoffed.

"That might be true," he replied. "But even if it is the fabled Elder Wand, I still don't want it."

"Why not?" Luna asked. Draco looked at her incredulously. He sat his breakfast on the table beside him and pulled up the arm of his jumper.

"Do you really want someone with _this_ keeping the strongest wand in the world?" Draco asked. "It's dangerous enough for any normal witch or wizard to have, let alone someone with the Dark Mark."

"You aren't a Death Eater anymore," Luna stated. Draco nodded.

"That's right, I'm not," he confirmed. "And yet I am still the son of Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black. The Malfoys and the Blacks are two of the darkest families in history. They rival even the Gaunt family in that regard. I was raised by a man whose fervent belief in blood purity is so absolute that the mere thought of his son interacting with even a half-blood is obscene. I was raised by a woman who spouted her family's beliefs every moment I was ever alone with her. Trust me, Lovegood, you don't want to hear even half of what she had to say. I was taught to hate from a young age, where most children were taught to love. At least that's what I've seen. You know, I don't believe either of my parents have ever told me that they love me.

"I still feel hatred when I look at Hermione Granger, not because I dislike who she is, though I'm not a huge fan, but because of her birth. I know that's not right, and yet there is always going to be a part of me that has Lucius and Narcissa's fingerprints on it. It is smaller than it was, yes. But it will never be gone. I cannot say with any absolute certainty that I will always be a 'good guy'. In fact, I cannot say with absolute certainty that I am one right now. All I know is that I am what I am today because of Astoria. No one else. This amazing example of a human being, that was actually able to undo years of tough hate training, is laying on a bed in front of me, unconscious, because of her actions in order to __do the right thing__, and I can't help but want to hurt all of those responsible, and, yes, that means Dennis Creevey as well.

"Do you still think that I am the right person to hold the alleged Elder Wand?" Draco asked, finally rolling up his sleeve. "No, you don't. Now take it and go."

"If you say so," Luna said quietly, taking the wand with care and standing from her seat. "For what it's worth, I do think you are one of the good guys. You are more than your parents. You have proved that to all of us here ever since you showed up. Everyone here wants to like you, Draco. Your actions have made you an outcast in the magical world. Don't make it so here."

Draco said nothing as Luna left the room. He looked down at the food on the ground, and decided that he was no longer hungry. He sat in silence and looked at Astoria, who did not stir at all. In a few minutes, Ginny walked into the room, looking terrible.

"She hasn't moved at all?" Ginny asked, while checking Astoria's vital signs with her wand. Draco shook his head. "No, I didn't think she would yet. Teddy hasn't either. Dennis hasn't left that boy's side since they got here. I suspect that Teddy will be out longer than Astoria, though I can't be sure. I don't know a whole lot about how this all works."

"How's Moody?" Draco asked, wanting to change the subject.

"He's unconscious as well, though I made him that way," Ginny replied, sighing as she took a seat. "I don't know what to do about his arm. We don't have the limb to reattach it, and we can't really make a prosthetic limb like with his leg."

"The Dark Lord gave Wormtail a silver hand," Draco pointed out.

"And according to Hermione it strangled him when he dared to consider doing anything against You-Know-Who," Ginny replied, closing her eyes and pushing her red hair out of her eyes. "Even if it wasn't a cursed spell, I don't know how to do it. No one here does. Not even Hermione. Not that she's in much of a mood to talk."

"I can't imagine so," Draco replied. "There's no word on Charlie?" Ginny shook her head.

"Bill went straight to Gringott's and got today's __Daily Prophet__, and there was nothing in it about Charlie," she said. "It mentioned everything that happened yesterday except for the part about Hogwarts. That was, curiously, missing. It mentioned you, though. You're Undesirable No. 1 now. You've supplanted Susan Bones. Congratulations." Draco scoffed.

"Yeah, thanks," he said coldly. "It's everything I thought it would be. Did it mention anyone else?"

"It mentioned that John Dawlish was killed at the Ministry helping us," Ginny said. "It also said that two high-priority inmates were broken out, but only named Astoria and not Teddy. It confirmed that myself, Hermione, Mad-Eye and Bill are still alive. They also gave the descriptions of Hestia, though apparently no one knew who she was on sight. There was also further mention of Alicia, Angelina and Katie, to tell people that they are likely working with us, and to contact someone if they have any information. The only people unmentioned in any form are Luna, Dedalus and Dennis."

"So, not the greatest outcome," Draco said dryly.

"No, it isn't," Ginny agreed. They were silent for a few moments as Ginny was seemingly fighting sleep.

"You don't seem too cut up about Charlie," Draco commented finally. Ginny looked at him.

"I am, believe me," she said fervently. "I just don't have the time to be upset. Between Astoria, Teddy and Mad-Eye, I am kept very busy. Besides, I'm sure he's still alive. If they had killed him, it would have been front page news."

"You might be right," Draco said, deciding at the last minute not to mention that the Dark Lord would still kill Charlie regardless. It all depended on how much information Charlie had to give, and in this case it was a lot. The Ministry, and the Dark Lord himself, would do anything for information on any rebels out there.

That was when Draco realised something and stood abruptly.

"Keep looking in on Astoria for me, will you?" he asked, and Ginny nodded, slightly bemused at the sudden change in tone.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, though Draco noted that she didn't sound as concerned as she might have had it been anyone else in the household.

"It's not for you to worry about," Draco said. "If Astoria wakes, tell her that I will return soon."

"Of course," Ginny said, leaning back into her chair. With that, Draco left the room and quickly made his way downstairs where he found Bill pacing the sitting room, Hermione sitting in an armchair with Louis on her knee, Angelina sitting with a plate in her lap on another with a tired look in her face and Katie, Dedalus and Hestia sitting on a sofa together. No one appeared to be talking with the exception of Hermione who was speaking in baby talk to Louis.

"How's Astoria?" Hestia asked as Draco entered the room.

"Still unconscious, I'm afraid," Draco replied. "But right now, that's not of any major concern."

"What's the problem?" Bill asked, suddenly stopping his pacing. Draco looked at him, and it was clear that he had not slept at all.

"I need to go to Spinner's End," Draco explained. "Before the Ministry realises that they might be able to find something there."

"Would they?" Hestia asked.

"If they looked hard enough, yes," Draco replied. "Nothing about all of you here, of course. Astoria and I were never as stupid as that. But we did have some other incriminating documents there. In particular, things that mentioned the Prophecy that we were given at Hogwarts. While it's not a huge deal necessarily, it's still information that we don't want the Dark Lord receiving. Not to mention there are a lot of things that Astoria and I will need if we're going to simply hole up here for however long we need to. We didn't exactly pack a trunk."

"It's a dangerous suggestion," Hermione said, bouncing Louis on her knee. "But I think I have to agree with Draco here. The Prophecy is important enough that You-Know-Who will use it to his advantage. Is it anywhere out in the open?"

"No," Draco said.

"I didn't think so," Hermione said with a smile. "I just thought that maybe the Death Eaters haven't searched your house fully yet because they're waiting for you to return so they can arrest and execute you."

"Yes, that does sound like a plan of theirs," Draco admitted. "And I had definitely considered that. However, I think the reward outweighs the risk. For all we know, the chaos we all caused over the last twenty-four hours might well have caused more harm than we first thought. Perhaps they have overlooked Spinner's End in their haste to find all of you."

"Or their haste to torture the information out of Charlie," Bill said morosely.

"You don't know they're doing that," Hermione said in what appeared to Draco to be an annoyed tone, though he couldn't completely tell.

"If he was dead, we would know it!" Bill burst out. "We haven't heard anything about him today, but it's almost certain he was captured. If he isn't dead, they're torturing him."

"All the more reason why they may have overlooked my involvement for the moment," Draco pointed out.

"All of this is happening to Charlie, and all you can think about is yourself?" Bill asked incredulously before snorting. "Perhaps it was too much to think that you changed completely."

"He does have a point," Hestia put in. "I agree, it's perhaps not the __best __time to be saying things like that, but you have to admit that he could be right." Bill simply grunted.

"So what's the plan?" Katie asked.

"I'll go in, find what I need and get out," Draco said. "I know where everything is, so it shouldn't take me more than a few minutes."

"And if something happens to you?" Hermione asked. "What do we tell Astoria?"

"Tell her the truth," Draco said. "She'll understand."

"No, I'm not sure that she will," Katie said.

"I'll go with you," Hermione said. When Draco and Bill both looked at her sharply, she raised her eyebrows. "What? As if it's any more dangerous than what we all did yesterday."

"I'll go too," Katie said. "I might as well. I can't say I'm looking forward to just sitting here all day. Besides, my shift doesn't start until three."

"I'm in," Hestia said.

"Look, that's all well and good, but I don't need that many of you," Draco said.

"If you get blindsided by Death Eaters, you will be taken," Hestia pointed out. "If they're just expecting you, they might not send a massive force to your house. We might be enough."

"Why would you do this for me?" Draco asked.

"Well, you're not my favourite person in the world," Hermione said with something that Draco identified as a smug, self-satisfied smile that made him want to curse her. "But you have done a lot for us. It's about time we do something a bit more for you."

"You helped me get Astoria back," Draco pointed out.

"To be honest, that was more about Astoria and Teddy than it was about you," Hermione replied with the same annoying smile. "This time it's mostly for you." Draco was silent for a moment before nodding and turning to Bill.

"What about you?" he asked. Bill sighed.

"Sorry about that outburst before," he said. "I really do appreciate what you have done for us. You've got three feisty women going with you. You don't need me with you. I'd probably weigh you down."

"Maybe," Draco replied. "Besides, you have children to think of. This isn't the same as our previous endeavour. I can't ask anyone to risk their lives for something so small."

"Well, I'll stay," Bill said. "If Astoria wakes, I'll make sure she's comfortable. Not that Ginny wouldn't, but I will still make an effort." Draco nodded and turned to Angelina, who had said nothing throughout the entire situation.

"How are you?" Draco asked. She looked up at him and into his eyes.

"I don't know," she replied quietly. "I … I remember it all from yesterday. Everything. I remember everything. Azkaban. The Dementors. Oh, god, the Dementors. Do you know what I did, Draco?"

"I've heard," Draco said.

"I tore them apart," Angelina said coldly. "I ripped into their bodies and pulled out what little flesh they had remaining. I actually killed Dementors. Lots of them. It has never been done before. Ever. No one has ever killed a Dementor, and yet I bit into them, and they died."

Draco watched intently as Angelina spoke, tears coming to her eyes. For a moment he wished to speak and tell her just what an amazing feat she had achieved, and yet something kept him quiet.

"Fenrir Greyback bit into me, so I turn into a beast at the full moon," Angelina continued. "A dark, foul beast that no human being should ever have to endure. And now I can kill Dementors because of it? How joyful for me. I still remember the taste, and I don't believe I will ever forget it. It is, without a doubt, the foulest thing ever to pass my lips, and yet it was also the most satisfying. I hope that I never have to ever do that again.

"If you will excuse me, I need to see Alicia," Angelina said, her demeanour changing quickly. She swiftly left her seat and sat her plate on her now empty seat. Limping she made her way towards the stairs and ascended them, leaning heavily on the railing as she went, silence following her as she walked out.

"I shouldn't have said anything it seems," Draco said when he heard her close a door on the floor above.

"No, it's fine," Katie said with the ghost of a smile. "She hasn't said anything since the transformation wore off. It's actually a good thing that she's talking now."

"I didn't realise it was that bad," Bill breathed. "I saw her kill them yesterday. I thought it was amazing. Not once did I consider that killing a Dementor would have any kind of ill effect."

"I have to agree," Draco replied. "I cannot imagine what it must be like. Dementors are bad at the best of times."

"She'll get through it," Katie said, fake happiness tingeing her voice.

"We really must go soon," Draco said after a moment. "If we don't, we might run out of time."

"Draco's right," Hermione said, standing up, Louis held against her before handing him to Bill, who held him against his chest as he cooed. "We go now, and we'll be back in less than twenty minutes. If we're not, Bill you send Dedalus and Ginny along to find us. Maybe Luna as well if you can tear her away from Victoire for that long."

"I'm sure she would be willing to help," Bill said. "What about Dennis?" Draco felt a twinge of hatred, but in a moment it was gone.

"Dennis can't be seen now," Hermione said. "He hasn't been seen by the Ministry yet. Besides, he won't leave Teddy's side yet. No, leave him be."

"Good," Draco said far more coldly than he intended. "We should leave now."

"How are we getting there," Katie asked eagerly as she and Hestia stood.

"Apparition," Draco said.

"What if we need to get out quickly?" Hestia asked.

"Take a Portkey each," Hermione said, reaching into a pouch and then handing around three rocks. When she had no rock in her hand, she continued. "The password is the same for all of us. __Arthur__. That will get us back here." She then picked up another rock for herself.

"How many of these things do you have?" Draco asked, slightly incredulously.

"I made these ones last night," Hermione explained. "I needed something to keep my mind off of everything. I made five others before I got too tired to do any more."

"Eight in a night?" Draco asked. "That's a lot."

"So Bill told me," Hermione said with a smile. "But lucky I did, otherwise we wouldn't have them for today. Shall we?"

"Absolutely," Draco said, and in a few minutes, the four of them were in a back alley close to his house on Spinner's End. Draco guided Hestia first, and she went back for Katie and Hermione.

"So where from here?" Hestia asked.

"Around the corner and up a block," Draco replied quickly. "But I'll go first to see if there's anyone nearby."

Before any of the three women could protest, Draco walked out of the alleyway and turned to his left. He could see several blocks ahead and they all seemed to be deserted. He looked towards his house and saw nothing out of the usual, so he turned back to the other three.

"It doesn't look like anyone's around," he said, and beckoned them to come to him. "We'll move up to the house quickly, and as quietly as we can."

"I'm sure we can manage that," Katie said.

"Do you want one of us to stand guard out the front?" Hermione asked.

"That might not be wise," Hestia said suddenly. "If there's only one person out there, they would be overwhelmed fairy quickly. Best to keep our strength together for this."

"I was thinking the same thing," Draco said.

"Great minds think alike," Hestia said with a smile as the four of them walked up the street. "Truthfully, though, I was thinking like Alastor."

"I'll take that as a compliment I think," Draco replied. "We would all do well to think more like Mad-Eye Moody."

"Not too much, though," Hestia said in a warning tone. Draco looked at her, and she looked upset. "I love him. He's like a father to me, truly he is. But no one should ever be that paranoid. It's painful to see someone like that."

"How is he?" Katie asked after a moments' silence.

"Not awake yet," Hestia replied. "But that's Ginny's doing. He needs to sleep until the pain is bearable. But Alastor has dealt with this for most of his adult life. Having one arm will only be a hindrance in the sense that he won't be able to use both a wand and a staff in battle. Not that he ever needed too. There's a reason why he caught so many Death Eaters in the First War."

"It's just across the road here," Draco said as they approached the house. It was a run-down old home from the front, but Draco new differently. The look was not his doing, and based on what he had gleamed over time, it was not Severus' either, though he never took to fixing the place up, even though he could. Draco assumed that it was for the same reason that he never fixed it up. People were less likely to approach your home if they are frightened of it. "It doesn't look like anyone has been here. Then again, they wouldn't leave many signs if they have been."

"You really live here?" Hermione asked. "After your massive, overly extravagant family manor?"

"How do you know about –" Draco began, in a whisper but cut himself off. "Right, you were there for a little while before the Battle of Hogwarts. Well, I didn't think that it was appropriate for Astoria and I to live with my parents, so Father gave us this place. Severus Snape used to live here, but when he turned out to be a traitor, the Dark Lord gave the house to my father as a token of his esteem. More like he couldn't find anyone who wanted it, and if there was something to be given, Lucius Malfoy wanted it."

Draco put his index finger to his lips and opened the front door silently. As he did, he did not hear anything. No alarms. No people. Nothing. He looked in and the house seemed to be in the same condition as when he left it.

"__Homenum Revelio__," Draco heard Hermione say as she entered the house behind him. "There's no one else here."

"Okay, I'll grab some things," Draco said. "You three follow me in case something happens."

From there, Draco walked into his bedroom where he picked up a small bag that was bigger on the inside and started stuffing as much clothing as he could into it.

"In the top drawer over there," Draco said to Hestia, pointing to a desk in the corner, "you'll find nothing, but if you point your wand to the bottom of the drawer and say 'Hyperion'. It'll open up and there will be several documents. I want you to grab them and bring them to me."

"'Hyperion'?" Hermione asked, laughing. Draco stiffened, but did not stop working. "Wasn't that a Transformer?"

"A what?" Draco asked, looking at her oddly.

"Never mind," she replied.

"For your information, Astoria and I were considering naming a future son Hyperion," Draco said haughtily. Hermione and Katie laughed, and Draco saw that Hestia was smiling as she handed him the notes on the Prophecy.

"Please tell me that's not his first name," Katie said. "That's borderline child abuse."

"No, it's going to be Scorpius," Draco replied coldly.

"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy?" Katie said, laughing again. "Seriously?"

"I am most definitely serious," Draco said angrily.

"Hey, calm down now," Katie said. "We're just joking around. I had a Great Uncle Agamemnon. Trust me, Scorpius is a wonderful name in comparison." Draco merely grunted and packed the last of Astoria's clothes.

"I've just got one more thing to get, and we can go," Draco said, picking the weightless bag up and walking out of the room and into the sitting room, walking straight for the bookshelf with his wand pointed at it. The shelf moved out of the way, revealing the safe behind it. In moments, the safe was open and Draco removed the one thing from within it. The letter that Daphne had given him on Christmas Day. "Feel free to take any books you like, but make it quick."

At the word "books", Hermione's eyes brightened and instantly started scanning the bookshelves, occasionally picking one and putting it in her beaded bag. After five minutes, and over three dozen books, Draco was getting antsy, so he decided to hurry Hermione along. As she was preparing to leave, Draco heard someone else enter the room. He spun around, his wand outstretched, and came face to face with his father, who also had his wand in his hand.

"Draco," Lucius said, his eyes scanning the room. "And Miss Granger, I see. I do not recognise the others, but I am sure that they are equally … reputable."

"Father, now is not the time," Draco said. "You three get out now."

"Oh, don't leave on my account," Lucius replied coldly, staring solely into Draco's eyes. "I do not wish to be any kind of inconvenience. I only wish that I could say the same for my only son. My blood."

"Father, you cannot tell me that you truly believe in the Dark Lord anymore," Draco said, not lowering his wand. "You've seen his world. Our numbers are dwindling, and they will do so until our kind is extinct. Whether you want to believe it or not, the Muggle-borns and half-bloods are necessary to our survival."

"Mudbloods are nothing!" Lucius yelled. "They are weak and they have polluted our society for far too long. I am ashamed that you would be defending them, Draco. I taught you better than that."

"No, Father," Draco replied cooly. "You taught me your ways, and that's not better."

"How dare you?" Lucius said, more in shock than anything else.

"I dare because it's true," Draco replied. To his left were Hermione and Hestia, both with their wands trained on Lucius. To his right, Katie had hers out also. "You taught me to hate, Father. I learned that from you, and you still, even now, think that's the right way to live your life. Well, Astoria has taught me otherwise. She has shown me that what you have taught me is inherently wrong."

"Your mother never trusted that bitch," Lucius spat. "She was right not to it seems. She has poisoned your mind." Draco laughed a harsh, grating laugh.

"'Poisoned my mind'?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "If that's the case, perhaps we should all drink from the same poisoned chalice. Anyone who does not agree with your Dark Lord's murderous, xenophobic views, you instantly despise. I was not poisoned, Father. I saw the truth. I don't want to serve a maniac who kills children and babies. A man who incarcerates five year olds in a prison not even fit for adults. Someone who relishes the thought of every non-magical being dying, leaving so few people populating this planet that we die out within centuries. Forgive me, Father. Forgive me for not wanting to follow this regime any longer."

"I had hoped that you would see sense, Draco," Lucius said, his eyes not even showing a flicker of emotion. "I stopped the Dark Lord from ransacking your home. I stopped them from bugging it, with the exception of my own spells. I had hoped that you would see that you have been steered wrong by someone along the way. It grieves me to see you like this."

"Like what?" Draco growled. "Like a free-thinking person? You haven't had that distinction since your Hogwarts days. Ever since then you have been following someone else's orders. Someone else's ideals. You have never once questioned them, and you truly have been brainwashed to think that this is what's right. I am not in the wrong here, Father. You are."

"Oh, Draco," Lucius said in what was clearly meant to be a sad tone, though came out flat. "I wish it didn't have to come to this. __Avada Keda __–"

Before Lucius could finish his incantation, Draco watched as Katie ran straight at him and pounced, pushing him backwards and into the bookcase behind him, hitting the back of his head on part of the wooden frame. As Katie pushed herself up off the groud, Draco ran to his father, who was now unconscious, and checked the back of his head. There was no blood.

"Draco, we need to go now," Hestia said, pulling Draco away. "Get the Portkey and go."

"He's still my father," Draco protested.

"There's no blood, and he's breathing," Hestia said quickly. "He'll be fine. Either someone will find him, or he'll come to. We need to be out of here before either of those things happen."

Draco took one last look at his father, slumped on the bookcase, his eyes closed and his hair hanging over his eyes.

"You're right," he said flatly and pulled out the stone from his pocket. "__Arthur__."

It was only when he reached his destination, in the park across the road from Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, that Draco realised just what had happened.

"Father was going to kill me," he said despondently. Someone put an arm around his shoulders.

"He didn't," Katie said from beside him. "I made sure of that."

"Thank you," Draco replied, remembering the look on his father's face as he began the Killing Curse. __My own father__, Draco thought to himself as the four of them made their way to Number Twelve. __He truly is too far gone. And so am I__.


	30. Explanations

**_**Disclaimer: **_**__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes.__

* * *

__**Chapter 30**__

**_**Explanations**_**

"__Out of sorrow entire worlds have been built,  
Out of longing great wonders have been willed.  
They're only tears, darling, let them spill,  
And lay your head upon my shoulder.  
Outside my window the world has gone to war.  
Are you the one that I've been waiting for?__"  
\- "(Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For?" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

**_**Dennis Creevey**_**

**_**10**_****_**th **_****_**January, 2004**_**

Dennis had hardly slept all night despite feeling bone tired since daybreak the previous day. As the sun crept its way through the window and into the large, dark bedroom at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, Dennis stared at the ceiling. Teddy was curled up next to him, warming his right hand side. He had rarely left Dennis' side since the moment he regained consciousness two days prior after his ordeal in Azkaban. He had also said very few words, but Dennis didn't push him, as he understood why. He knew, however, that Teddy would have to talk soon or else he might get worse. Dennis sighed and attempted to get out of the bed.

"No," Teddy said quietly. "Please don't leave me." Dennis' heart broke just a little more. In a flash, the Phoenix was there, as if answering the unsaid plea. The Phoenix started to sing, and somehow Dennis felt reinvigorated and happy, as always happened when the Phoenix sang. The sound caused Teddy to look up and smile at the bird. __It's the only thing that makes him smile__, Dennis thought sadly.

"Morning sleepy-head," Dennis said, feeling much more cheerful than he had moments before.

"What's his name?" Teddy asked, now sitting up and petting the Phoenix, who continued to sing, but looked thoroughly pleased at the attention that Teddy was giving him.

"You know, I haven't had much time to ask him," Dennis said with a smile, looking to the bird. "What is your name?"

Phoenixes have the innate ability to be able to communicate with their bonded human in a way. It is not easy at times to ascertain exactly what they mean, as they do not communicate with speech. Their communication is more through symbols that will mean something to humans. It is almost as though they send images into the minds of their bonded person which can be interpreted and understood. Phoenixes often become better at giving out these images if they have had a lot of prior interaction with humans. They can learn the English language and begin to associate certain images with certain words. However, there are concepts presented in human languages that Phoenixes simply cannot understand. Dennis had been getting better at interpreting what the Phoenix tells him, but still had some trouble at times.

The Phoenix trilled, and Dennis' mind saw the image of two forks, a rather large bonfire and fireworks in the sky. Dennis looked at the bird, confused for a moment. Then, as it finally clicked, Dennis' eyes widened.

"Fawkes," Dennis breathed. Fawkes trilled happily and flapped his wings, causing red sparks to fly off the feathers.

"That's his name?" Teddy asked.

"Yeah," Dennis said breathlessly. "This is Headmaster Dumbledore's Phoenix. Why?" Teddy looked confused, but Fawkes knew what Dennis was asking. Dennis saw both Dumbledore's face and his own in succession three times. He wasn't entirely sure that he was correct in his interpretation, but he felt both proud and guilty. "I'm not Dumbledore."

The Phoenix suddenly trilled, as if indignant.

"Phoeixes don't make mistakes," Fawkes seemed to be saying to him, and Dennis decided that he had no choice but to accept Fawkes' decision. He smiled and scratched Fawkes on the neck

"You feeling hungry?" he asked Teddy, who nodded. "We'll go downstairs and have something to eat then."

As they left the bedroom together, they came across Hermione and Ginny.

"You two are up early," Ginny commented, smiling at Teddy, who clung to Dennis' leg and hid behind him. So far, he had had some difficulty getting used to other people.

"I didn't sleep well," Dennis replied.

"Ginny, can you take Teddy down for breakfast?" Hermione asked. "I wanted to talk to Dennis alone for a minute."

"Sure," Ginny replied, putting her hand out to Teddy, who didn't take it.

"Teddy, Ginny's going to take you to have some breakfast, okay?" Dennis said, kneeling down. "I'll be down as soon as I can, alright?" Teddy waited a moment before nodding and taking Ginny's hand tentatively.

"How are you?" Hermione asked as Ginny and Teddy started to descend the stairs.

"I'm okay," Dennis replied. "Hey, it turns out that my Phoenix is actually Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix." Hermione didn't seem as surprised as Dennis had expected, though she did look at Fawkes on his shoulder with some reverence.

"I thought he might be," Hermione said. "I was reading about Phoenixes in one of the books I took from Draco's house the other day, and it said that very few Phoenixes ever choose to bond with humans, and those that do tend to do it a lot. They also tend to follow a pattern of sorts. Often a Phoenix will choose someone of the same gender as their first bonded person, and more often than not will stay within the same geographical area. They also tend to choose someone who was somehow associated with their previous human companion, as they were able to see that person often when bonded with that person. Since there are very few Phoenix companions, and even fewer Phoenixes that had ever bonded with anyone from Britain, it almost had to be Fawkes."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Dennis asked.

"It's one of those things you have to discover for yourself, I think," Hermione said with a smile. "By the way, you shouldn't change the subject. How are you?"

"I'm fine," Dennis said.

"The funeral was only yesterday," Hermione said softly. "You don't have to be strong right now."

"I'm not trying to be strong," Dennis said loudly. Hermione had attended his parents' funeral the day prior, as she was still posing as his girlfriend. The funeral was rather large. Much larger than Dennis had expected it to be. It was only his Aunt Lisa, Hermione and him directly at the graveside, as there were no other members of either family left. That had been painful for Dennis to learn, but at the same time he was kind of glad. He didn't have many family members left to lose.

After the funeral, Dennis had to talk to people he either didn't know, hadn't seen in years or didn't like. That was the worst part for him, because he just wanted to leave and go back to Number Twelve. But he couldn't. Dennis and Hermione stayed and talked to each person in turn, and Dennis did feel glad for her presence. He wasn't sure that he would have held it together if she wasn't holding his hand the whole day.

"Harry used to be like this all the time," Hermione told him. "I hated it when he used to tell me and Ron that he was 'fine', because I always knew that meant he wasn't." Dennis was silent for a moment.

"Well, you can rest assured that I will be fine," Dennis said. "If you'll excuse me, I'm rather hungry. And I need a coffee."

"Okay," Hermione sighed. "I'm sure breakfast will do you some good." Dennis nodded and walked to the stairs. He thought he heard Hermione say something behind him, but he ignored her and continued down the stairs. When he reached the lower floor, he found several people gathered in the sitting room, and so ignored them and headed straight for the kitchen where he found Teddy sitting at the large wooden table alone and Ginny making something.

"Don't worry Dennis, I've got scrambled eggs coming very soon," Ginny said cheerfully. "The Phoenix will eat that won't he?"

"Yeah," Dennis said.

"His name is Fawkes," Teddy piped in as Dennis sat opposite him at the table. Ginny turned quickly around.

"Like Dumbledore's?" she asked. Dennis nodded.

"As far as I can tell, this is Dumbledore's Fawkes," Dennis explained. Ginny smiled and turned back to the eggs.

"It is high praise to be chosen by a Phoenix with such good taste," Ginny said conversationally. "I know that I would be amazed at that."

"I'm still getting my head around it," Dennis replied with a half-smile. Ginny then brought the eggs over and put them on two plates, one for Dennis and a smaller one for Teddy, who started in on it hungrily. That made Dennis smile, as Teddy had not eaten a lot as of late.

"I've got to go and check on Mad-Eye," Ginny said, wiping her hands on a tea towel. "I'm letting him out of bed today. He's hated me the last day, but I made sure he was rested. I'm turning more into Madame Pomfrey each and every day." Dennis laughed obligingly, and began to eat his eggs. A few minutes later, without warning, someone sat next to Dennis.

"Enjoying breakfast Edward?" Luna asked, looking at Teddy who scrunched up his nose.

"I don't like that name," he said.

"Would you rather I call you Teddy then?" Luna asked and Teddy nodded eagerly. "I'll do that from now on. So, are you enjoying breakfast?"

"Yes, thank you," Teddy replied with a smile.

"Well you get right back to it," Luna said with a broad grin. "I wouldn't want to deprive a young boy of the best meal of the day."

Teddy giggled and started eating again. Dennis was smiling now.

"What about you?" Luna asked Dennis.

"It's good," Dennis replied. "Ginny's not too bad a cook."

"Well, she's really only good at eggs, I'm afraid," Luna replied. "That wasn't really what I was asking, though." Dennis sighed.

"I'm as fine as I could possibly be," he said. "Everything that has happened this past week … It's just a lot to handle."

"I understand," Luna said quietly, stroking Fawkes on Dennis' shoulder. "My mother died when I was young. I was only nine years old, and I saw my mother die. In a way, though, I think it helped. In the long run. Daddy and I, we helped each other through it and, eventually, I got through the pain. It doesn't go away. It never will, I'm afraid. But you learn to live with it. I was here when I found out that Daddy had been killed. I was devastated, and in many ways I still am. But I was able to pull through it like I did when I was nine. Part of that was experience, and another larger part was the people here. I know what you are going through. Truly, I do. But remember that you are one of us now. We take care of each other ever since the day that Charlie got us out of the burning Great Hall and away from Hogwarts. Feel free to do what you will, but remember we are all here."

Dennis looked at Luna and into her large silvery eyes, seeing true sincerity. Neither of them seemed to blink while looking at the other, but Dennis didn't seem to mind.

"Thank you," he said quietly. Luna patted his hand and got up, walking off into the sitting room with seemingly everyone else. Dennis looked over at Teddy who was looking at him. "Finish your breakfast, buddy."

Ten minutes later, Kreacher was collecting the unwashed plates and Dennis was feeling a lot better. As he stood from his seat, Fawkes trilled once and took off from his shoulder, disappearing in a moment. As Dennis walked into the sitting room with Teddy beside him, he heard the front door bang open. Dennis picked Teddy up immediately, but saw that he had nothing to worry about. Mad-Eye Moody clunked his way down the hallway, one arm learning on a staff and the other conspicuously missing. Behind him came Hestia dragging an almost lifeless, hooded figure with them. Behind them, Dennis saw someone he had not expected to see. Dolores Umbridge walked into the sitting room, wringing her hands and looking around nervously.

Teddy, who was still being held by Dennis after the sudden noise, looked around to see Umbridge. When he saw her, he suddenly started shaking and crying. Everyone in the room looked at Dennis who was already making his way out of the room, hugging Teddy close to him. Before he left, he looked over his shoulder and saw an intensely pained look on Umbridge's face.

Dennis sat Teddy on a chair and crouched down to talk to him.

"What's wrong?" he asked kindly.

"I don't want Dolly," Teddy said through his tears. "No, please. Not Dolly."

"What's going on?" Bill said as he walked into the kitchen. Dennis looked around to see Luna with him as well.

"I'm not sure," Dennis replied, turning back to Teddy, who was still crying, though not shaking nearly as much as he had done before. "Why don't you want Dolly?"

"T-t-the bad man …" Teddy said through sobs. "H-he hurt me."

"Did he ask you about Dolly?" Dennis asked. Teddy nodded and Dennis hugged him. "That's alright, buddy. No, it's fine. You don't have to see her if you don't want to."

"I will rip that thing to pieces if I have to," Bill growled.

"Well, he's not here right now," Luna said. "I'll take him upstairs, Dennis. You stay here and find out what's going on."

"No, I'll take him," Bill said suddenly. "Mad-Eye's already clued me into what's going on. I'll take him in with Louis and Victoire."

"Will you go with Bill and play with Victoire and Louis for a while?" Dennis asked Teddy, who nodded slowly. Dennis reached up and wiped the rest of his tears away. "I'll come in when everything's finished, okay?"

"Okay," Teddy said quietly.

"Come on," Bill said, taking Teddy's hand. "It will be nice for Victoire to have someone else to play with. She's a bit younger than you, but I'm sure you'll get along just fine."

"Teddy hasn't said much about what happened at Azkaban," Dennis said with a sigh as he stood up and Bill left the room. "He never mentioned You-Know-Who asking about Umbridge before now."

"It won't last forever," Luna said softly. "But for now, I think Mad-Eye has some explanations for us."

Dennis nodded and he and Luna walked back into the room together. Umbridge looked at him pleadingly, but Dennis looked away from her guiltily. When he caught Mad-Eye's one good eye, he nodded and the older wizard nodded back.

"Some of you might be wondering how exactly we managed to get Bell, Johnson and Spinnet out of the Ministry as easily as we did," Mad-Eye began, loudly and gruffly. "Simple. We had someone on the inside."

"Lockhart," Alicia said from her spot standing near the fireplace. "He was the one to give us the Portkeys and our wands back."

"You're half right," Mad-Eye replied, his magical eye swivelling to Alicia and then over the rest of the room as he spoke. "It was Lockhart, but it also wasn't. Dolores Umbridge was using Polyjuice Potion to take Lockhart's place. She had been since the middle of September. She was the one to get you three out."

"__Her__?" Alicia and Katie said together. Angelina, Dennis noticed, was remarkably quiet, although that was not entirely odd for the last few days.

"Me," Umbridge said. "After I asked Dennis there to look after Teddy for me, I went more on the run. I decided that maybe I could be doing more, and so I decided to scout Diagon Alley. I stayed mostly close to Gringott's, as even the Dark Lord doesn't seem to force too much onto Gringott's. I got careless and was almost found out by the Carrows, but before they could see me Dedalus pulled me aside and asked me what was going on. I explained a few things, met at a neutral place with Alastor and convinced him that I wasn't some kind of spy and I've been working with them ever since."

"I thought the Ministry was cracking down on Polyjuice," Hermione said. It was Draco who responded.

"Only the minor workers," he explained. "Lockhart's memory loss caused him to be easily susceptible to the Dark Lord, so he rose high very quickly. Nobody in his position would ever have been checked."

"Plus his incompetence made it easy for us to overpower him," Hestia said with a smile. "We had him within minutes."

There was then a loud, though muffled, noise from the man with what Dennis now saw to be a sack on his head. The noise even managed to sound indignant.

"Wait, is that Lockhart?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"It is," Mad-Eye confirmed as he pulled the sack off, revealing a gagged, ragged man that Dennis only recognised from one of Colin's textbooks. Though that was hard enough to do, as his head was missing hairs on the left side, and he had a rather patchy beard growing as well. "But he doesn't know the location, don't you worry. I would have silenced him, but this was easier."

"What do you expect we do to him?" Hermione asked.

"Well, he can't be used for Polyjuice anymore," Draco pointed out. "After what happened at the Ministry, he would be in the Dark Lord's bad books. More than likely the Dark Lord would question him about what happened, he would tell the truth and implicate Umbridge and the rest of us and then the Dark Lord would kill him regardless. For incompetence. He's a danger to all of us." Lockhart's eyes seemed to bulge out of his head.

"And you think we should just kill him?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think that's what Draco's suggesting," Astoria put in.

"No, only that we can't allow him to leave," Draco explained.

"Why would we keep him here?" Ginny asked. "He's not any kind of prisoner, because he's of no worth. All he would be is another mouth to feed."

"So what do we do then?" Katie asked.

"Let him go," Dennis said suddenly, and all eyes turned to him at the back of the room. "Let him go and flee the country. Let him hide somewhere else. I doubt that he would be willing to go anywhere near You-Know-Who at the moment, especially when he would have nothing to tell him that he wouldn't already know. It would be suicide. Let him run like the coward he clearly is." Lockhart was nodding vigorously as Dennis spoke.

"He's right," Mad-Eye grunted. "I'm an Auror, so I'm used to killing criminals, but I can't very well name this piece of garbage a criminal. An idiot, sure. But not a criminal. If we won't kill him, and we won't keep him, we have to let him go."

"Make him take an Unbreakable Vow," Draco suggested. Dennis had only ever heard of Unbreakable Vow before, and even then it didn't seem like something to be done lightly. A Ravenclaw in his Year at Hogwarts had told him once that if even the slightest word was off, either there would be a loophole rendering the whole thing pointless or it would make it too hard to adhere to. Either way, it had to be done very carefully. However, if there was any wizard who could do one well, it would be Mad-Eye Moody. __He's too paranoid to leave a loophole__, Dennis thought.

"Seems reasonable," Mad-Eye said. "Any objections?" Dennis felt a bit off about an Unbreakable Vow causing Lockhart's death should he break it, but decided to say nothing. "Fine. I'll see to it later. Bill will help me and then we'll drop him off somewhere. I don't know where. Sound good to you?" He directed the final question towards Lockhart who nodded so hard that the sweat flew from his face and on to the floor.

"We'll find you a room," Hermione said to Umbridge after a moment, though it seemed like she was trying very hard to speak without any anger. Dennis couldn't very well blame her.

"I don't believe I will be staying here," Umbridge replied, her eyes flickering to Dennis for a moment. "I'll go back to the hideout and stay there. I'll find another person to pretend to be. Either that, or I'll find something else useful to do."

"You don't have to," Hermione said, but Umbridge shot her a look.

"Of course I do," she said flatly. "Other than Alastor, Hestia and Dedalus and __maybe __Dennis, I have no good will from any of you. Don't think I don't know that you all still hate me from when I was working at Hogwarts. I can see it in all of you. I know why you feel that way, and I do hope you will change your minds in the future, but for now I would rather stay somewhere where I will feel comfortable."

"If you say so," Hermione replied. "Feel free to come here if you like, though. Regardless of who you are, it's clear that this whole campaign needs you."

"Thank you," Umbridge said. "I'll be leaving now, if you don't mind."

"By all means," Hermione said. Umbridge stood up, but before she could leave, Alicia and Katie stood as well.

"Thank you for risking your life for us," Alicia said. "Without you we would be dead."

"Yes, thank you," Katie agreed. "We owe you."

"No you don't," Umbridge replied. "I did everything I did because I wanted to. That's enough for me."

"Thank you," Angelina said from her spot on the couch. Umbridge looked at her, and it was clear that Mad-Eye had told her at least some of what had happened at Azkaban.

"You're welcome," Umbridge replied. She then turned around and exited the room. Dennis suddenly felt Luna nudge him. He looked at her, and she nodded towards Umbridge who was already in the hallway. Dennis sighed and went after her.

"Wait a minute," he said before she opened the front door.

"Yes?" Umbridge asked, turning around. "What do you want?"

"Teddy didn't mean to react like that," Dennis said. "He's not scared of you, he's scared of You-Know-Who. You-Know-Who tortured Teddy for information about you, so I think he associates that with you. He will come around eventually." Umbridge stared at him for a moment.

"Thank you for telling me," she replied after a moment. "Teddy is in my past, regardless. I saw you with him in there, and I wouldn't take that away from you. You're his family. I was just the conduit between one family and another. I am sorry about your parents. There was nothing I could do."

"I didn't expect that you could have," Dennis said. "Rest assured, I will guard Teddy with my life."

"Whatever you do, don't die," Umbridge said quietly. "He doesn't need any more heartache." Dennis nodded. Umbridge turned around and opened the front door. Once it was closed, Dennis heard a faint pop, and he knew she was gone.

As Dennis walked through the sitting room, he saw Hestia dragging Lockhart upstairs, followed soon after by Mad-Eye. Luna smiled at him as he entered, and he smiled back.

"Creevey!" Draco called out. Dennis looked over at him. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," Dennis replied. Draco walked over to him, alone. "What's up?"

"I want to apologise," Draco said quietly.

"What for?" Dennis asked, genuinely confused. Draco sighed.

"The last few days," Draco replied. "I'll be honest, after everything with Astoria and Azkaban, I didn't exactly have a high opinion of you. I blamed you for what happened to her, and everything that happened afterwards. I even told Ginny that I wanted to hurt you for what you caused."

"You didn't, though," Dennis said.

"No, I suppose not," Draco replied. "But I haven't exactly been making life easy for you the last few days."

"To be honest, I thought that was just you being you," Dennis said and Draco laughed.

"I guess you're right," he said. "Or, at least, it _was_ me. Did anyone tell you what happened when I went back to Spinner's End?"

"No, not really," Dennis replied. "Hermione mentioned some books she took from there."

"Of course she mentions the books," Draco said. "I meant with my father."

"Oh, yeah," Dennis replied. "I heard that he was there."

"Well, he actually tried to kill me," Draco said. "He was almost finished saying the incantation for the Killing Curse, and if Katie hadn't tackled him I would probably be dead right now. My own father tried to kill me. When Astoria finally woke up, and I got around to telling her everything, she made me see that my attitude shouldn't be to hurt you. That's my father's attitude. I want to be better than that. Better than him.

"I can't say with any kind of certainty that I'll change myself too much," Draco continued. "But I'll change where it matters. This is one of those times." He reached out his hand. Dennis didn't even have to think as he shook it. "The next time I decide to insult you, just bear that in mind. I'm still me after all."

"Oddly enough, I wouldn't have it any other way," Dennis said.

"Sorry about your parents," Draco said suddenly as Dennis turned to walk away.

"Sorry about yours," Dennis said, and Draco smiled.

Later in the day, when everything had died down after Mad-Eye's explanations and Lockhart was off somewhere, hopefully headed to another country, Dennis pulled Teddy aside and into the room that they had been sharing the last few nights. He sat Teddy on the bed and sat beside him.

"We need to have a talk," Dennis said sombrely.

"Why?" Teddy asked.

"I think you need to tell me everything that happened when they took you away," Dennis said, and Teddy went wide-eyed. Dennis put an arm around his shoulder. "I know you won't like it, but we need to talk about it, okay? Maybe you'll feel a bit better after."

"Really?" Teddy asked, tears already coming to his eyes.

"Really," Dennis confirmed. "You just have to be strong, okay?"

"Okay," Teddy replied. All of a sudden, his hair changed colour. It had been the same colour as Dennis' ever since Azkaban, and hadn't changed at all. Now it was jet black. A shiver went down Dennis' back.

"What happened when they first took you?" Dennis asked after a moment, fearing the worst.

"I don't know," Teddy said. "There were noises and I heard voices. I got up to look, and there were bad people. There was a red light and it was like I was asleep."

"Okay," Dennis said, squeezing Teddy's shoulder. __That's all it was__, Dennis told himself, relieved. "What do you remember after that?"

"I was in the dark room with the bad man," Teddy said, suddenly beginning to shake. "I was scared. He scared me. And he hurt me."

"How did he do that?" Dennis asked.

"He used his wand," Teddy said quietly. "He said something strange, and it hurt me."

"How did it hurt?" Dennis asked.

"My whole body hurt," Teddy said, tears finally rolling down his cheeks. "Then he asked … 'bout Dolly."

"What did he ask?" Dennis asked, as he held the little boy who had become his brother close to him as he cried.

"Where Dolly was," Teddy said between sobs. "I said I didn't know. That Dolly went away. Then he … hurt me again. He hurt me a lot."

"I'll never let anyone hurt you ever again," Dennis said. "I promise you, I will never let it happen. Never."

As Teddy cried, Dennis held him. It was all he could do, and it felt inadequate, even as tears started to come to Dennis' eyes as well. Dennis held the weeping child against him and swore to himself that Teddy would come to no harm. He did not swear vengeance against Voldemort, nor did any thought of revenge even once cross his mind. His thoughts were only of the traumatised little boy in his arms who had endured what most grown men would never be able to.

There was a blaze of light and flame and suddenly Fawkes was on the table near the doorway. Dennis' eyes went to the beautiful Phoenix that had once belonged to the legendary Albus Dumbledore. Fawkes looked him in the eye, trilled once as the tiny eyes seemed to gleam in their sockets, and then opened its beak and broke into full song. The song permeated the entirety of Number Twelve, Dennis would come to learn. And yet it did little to comfort the crying boy until finally there were no tears, and Teddy himself looked up at the Phoenix, still singing away a beautiful tune. Teddy watched Fawkes for a moment, and it seemed as though Fawkes, too, was watching him. Then Teddy smiled again, and Dennis felt much happier than he had done in over a week.


	31. Fear of the Dark

**_**Disclaimer: **_**__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes.__

* * *

****Author's Note****

Consider this a __WARNING __of a dark chapter to come. Darker than usual at any rate.

****~Colin, the Master of Whisperers****

* * *

__**Chapter 31**__

**_**Fear of the Dark**_**

"__Light thinks it travels faster than anything, but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it__."  
\- Terry Pratchett ("Reaper Man")

**_**Charlie Weasley**_**

**_**11**_****_**th **_****_**January, 2004**_**

When Charlie was much younger he had been afraid of the dark. He remembered the nights when he used to lie in bed, terrified of the encroaching darkness that never ever went away and slowly seemed to envelop him until he could see next to nothing. It was a wonder, he came to think, that he ever fell asleep. He was as terrified of the dark as some are terrified of spiders or snakes. Only the problem with the darkness is that it cannot be killed or chased off, and it can only be lived through until finally, and mercifully, the sun rises from the other side of the world and finally destroys that hideous darkness. Then, and only then, did little Charlie ever feel safe.

For a long time Charlie suffered in silence until one day, at the age of six, when his mother finally had a moment alone with him, he told her it all. She smiled at him and hugged him tight.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," she had told him in her calm, reassuring voice. "The dark is just there to remind us that we're supposed to sleep. Nothing hides there. Not anymore. I wouldn't let anything hurt you."

Little Charlie looked up at his mother's smiling face, and realised, in his own way, that she was right. Of course, she was right. All those times he had found himself still as a board in his bed, covers pulled up to his chin, jumping at even the slightest sound, he had never once seen the thing that he had expected to be there. The darkness was no more frightening than the light. It did take some time, but he eventually got over his fear of darkness and was able to sleep soundly at night without any fear of some unknown assailant harming him in any way.

For the first time since he was six years old, Charlie was beginning to question whether his mother had been truly wise in her assessment of the darkness that surrounded them at night. Because sometimes the darkness is all there is.

Charlie did not have the slightest clue as to where he was. Some dungeon somewhere was about as far as he got in working out a location for himself. His arms were shackled together with thick, metal chains, and a spell had been put on him so that he could not stand, or even move from the ground.

He knew it was a cell. That much was certain, because when they came for him, they always had their wands lit up, and he was finally able to actually make out something. Sometimes they came to give him whatever meagre food and drink they could spare. Sometimes they came to check on him and spit through the bars at him. Mostly, however, they came for far more sinister reasons. Charlie was already bearing scars from those sinister reasons.

Charlie's job during the rescue mission was simple. Distract the Death Eaters enough that they are too scattered or focused on him that the others could get done what they needed to get done. Simple. He was given a broom and told to fly, which was like giving a fish water and telling it to swim. Charlie had always had an affinity with the air above, and as a Seeker he was quick and nimble. The best person for the distraction job, everyone had agreed.

Everything had gone as well as could be expected. When he, Hestia and Moody turned up at Hogwarts, they triggered some kind of an alarm, and eventually Death Eaters and Aurors showed up. When Ginny found her way to Hogwarts, finally, Charlie breathed a sigh of relief, which swiftly was taken away by the arrival of too many more Death Eaters. Ginny killed one of them and was shaken. He didn't think much of it until he cast the Killing Curse at another person for the first time.

He liked it.

When that green spell hit home, and the man flew backwards, already dead when he left that broom, Charlie felt a thrill like none other he had ever felt before. He felt powerful. He felt invincible. He felt as though he was, at long last, in control. All of that he felt in the space of one second and then it disappeared, leaving a sickening feeling in his stomach as the dead man plummeted to the ground below.

After that, Charlie's memory was foggy, whether that was because of his murdering another human being, or whether it was a result of the five stunners he was hit by in the Forbidden Forest, he didn't know. All he knew was that he sent Ginny away and shot off towards the forest to lure the Death Eaters away. Unfortunately, they caught up to him. He next awakened in this cell, with nobody and nothing in sight, completely naked and a silencing charm on him. He was hungry, weak and frightened.

It had been five days since he was captured, Charlie was certain. The Death Eaters, when they entered the cell with him, always noted the date and time. Charlie didn't know why, but he had enough wits about him not to antagonise them about it either.

Voldemort was first. Charlie had been awake for less than fifteen minutes, by his own reckoning, when Voldemort entered into the cell and started asking questions, none of which Charlie answered.

"Where is the resistance group?"

"Who else is involved?"

"How many spies do you have? Who are they?"

"What were you doing at Hogwarts?"

"How did you know when to attack?"

"What is Draco Malfoy to you?"

"Why did your people break into the Ministry?"

Charlie refused to answer any questions, and with each refusal, Charlie was given the Cruciatus Curse. This went on for an hour with Voldemort until Charlie, weak and sobbing, felt a knife at his throat.

"You are worthless," Voldemort had whispered to him, his hot breath hitting Charlie's left ear. "I could kill you now if I felt like it. Unfortunately for you, I think you are of more use alive. You __will __talk, Weasley."

"I won't," Charlie spat viciously. Voldemort laughed.

"Oh, you will," he said silkily. "To prove that I mean what I say, I believe I will enact some revenge. Your whore Veela sister-in-law took something of mine. Someone must pay."

Voldemort's knife moved far more quickly than Charlie had expected. He felt the cool steel slice through his ear, severing it from the side of his head. He felt something hit his shoulder and he moved his hand to where his ear had once been, finding hot blood flowing out and quickly covering his entire hand as he screamed. Voldemort picked up the severed ear and waved it in front of Charlie's eyes before throwing it in his face. After that, Voldemort left the cell.

A Healer in the employ of Voldemort healed the wound as best she could, but Voldemort forbade her to reattach the ear. As such, Charlie now lacked one ear, just as his brother George had all those years ago. If it weren't for the torture and the darkness, Charlie might have laughed. Over the next few days, Death Eaters showed up every few hours. When they did, they would torture him for information, and Charlie wouldn't give anything up. Each day, Voldemort would enter the room himself and ask questions, torturing as he went. At the end of each session, Voldemort would cut something else off.

On the second day, Charlie had refused for twenty minutes to answer any questions, so Voldemort slowly cut through the middle toe on his right foot. The next day, he lasted half an hour before Voldemort lost his temper and, even more slowly than the day before, cut the smallest toe on the same foot. The fourth day, Voldemort lost his temper very quickly, and quickly sliced off Charlie's ring finger on his left hand. The next day was the longest. Voldemort tortured him so much, that Charlie had passed out, and only woke up again when Voldemort had started cutting into his pinky finger on his right hand. Voldemort had not shown up yet, and Charlie was becoming utterly terrified.

Charlie sat on the floor of the cell, covered in his own filth and blood. His face was badly bruised, thanks to a particularly angry Amycus Carrow on the third day. He had small cuts across every part of his body from various objects and spells. He ached all over. His missing appendages were sat next to him, just out of his reach, taunting him, as was Voldemort's custom. After losing the ear on the first day, Charlie had picked it up and thrown it through the bars and out of the cell. That had been a mistake, and Charlie learned very quickly not to even attempt to touch anything that had been removed from him. It was the first thing that Voldemort looked for, and if they weren't there he was in a much worse mood than he would otherwise be. Charlie had no reason to make him even less happy and so he left them where they were, trying his best to ignore them.

He had been visited only once so far this day, and that was, according to the man's log of the date and time, not long after midnight. He didn't recognise the man who tortured him that time, and that actually made it slightly more bearable. That was hours ago, however, and Charlie was beginning to get very nervous. Despite the fact that he had been shaking practically the whole time in the cell, he began to shake a bit more. He flexed his fingers, and suddenly remembered the loss of the two digits before and wanted to cry.

Moments later, a light came from outside and Charlie's heart started beating faster. Inside, Charlie was crying out to himself to just give everything up. Just let it end once and for all. One way or another he was going to die, and he wasn't sure how much longer he would last in the state he was in. Loud, fast footsteps approached the cell as the light grew brighter. Charlie looked down at his hands and saw the place his fingers had once been.

The door of the cell crashed open and someone strolled in. At first, the haste at which the person entered made Charlie think that he was being rescued. That was until a harsh, rasping laugh came.

"Stupid bastard," the voice said as Fenrir Greyback's scarred, ugly face came into view, his mouth open just enough to see the teeth, filed into points and almost glowing yellow in the light of his wand. "No one's coming for you, you know. If they did, they would die."

"Oh, they know that," Charlie rasped. His throat was dry and parched from lack of water. "Unlike you and your people, they actually have a brain in their head. No one will come for me."

"__Crucio__!" Greyback growled. Charlie screamed and became rigid from the pain. His arms tried to separate and flail in pan, but the shackles kept them in place as sharp knives pierced every nerve in his body. Eventually Greyback let the Curse go and laughed again. "It's pleasing to know that people don't get used to this kind of shit. It would be a shame if they did."

Charlie writhed on the ground and tried in vain to prop himself up against the brick wall. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"I'm s'posed to ask you questions," Greyback said conversationally as Charlie struggled to get into a seated position to retain some kind of dignity. "Can't say that I care much about that. They've been torturing you for days now. If you were going to talk, you'd have done it. But, you know what they say. Torture is for the torturer."

Greyback flicked his wand and through the cell door came a single wooden chair. He grabbed it with his scarred, hairy hands and sat it down in front of Charlie, sitting down on it much more softly than Charlie might have guessed.

"See, we all know you've got information we want, but no one, save the Dark Lord himself, actually wants you to talk," Greyback continued as Charlie finally sat up straight again. As he did so, Greyback pointed his wand at him. "__Crucio__."

The curse wasn't on for as long as before, but the outcome was the same. Charlie writhed in pain once more, and found himself lying on the floor of the cell and shaking violently when it was over.

"The rest of us, we're getting what we want out of this," Greyback said as though Charlie wasn't just harmed at all. "We know that you and you're people might be a threat, but at this point there's nothing to be done for it. We've taken Britain. We have France under control now as well. Some small fucking resistance group isn't going to do us any harm. We've captured you, and eventually you will die. Then we will find your friends, and they will die."

"No you won't," Charlie said quietly. Greyback barked a laugh and leaned forward in the chair. He backhanded Charlie and he fell back to the floor again.

"We will," Greyback said, smiling and baring his fangs. "You dealt us a blow, for certain. Azkaban gone. Can't track Muggle-borns. Dementors on the loose. You made things a bit harder, but the Dark Lord __came back from the dead__. He's faced greater odds than this before. We __will __find and kill your friends.

"We already know some of them," Greyback continued. Charlie still tried to sit up, even despite what he knew would come. "Your older brother, for one. He helped destroy the prison. Not sure how, but he did. The Granger bitch. Alastor Moody, the fucking pest. Your little sister, if the tales are true. Then there was another woman who was with you at Hogwarts. No identity for her yet. Then there's the three whores who were due to be executed. Lockhart, of all people, saved their lives. Never trusted him. There's a lot of talk that you probably are working with Susan Bones and Draco Malfoy too."

"I'm not telling you anything," Charlie spat. Greyback laughed once more, but this time allowed Charlie to stay seated.

"You didn't hear me, did you?" he mocked. "You lost your ear, not your hearing. I'm not here for you, I'm here for me. I don't care if you never talk. In fact, I don't want you to. The longer you're alive, the happier I will be. Maybe they will allow me in here one night at the Full Moon. __Crucio__!"

Greyback held onto the curse for much longer than the first two this time, and Charlie screamed louder than before as well. When Greyback finally relented, Charlie felt tears flowing down his face.

"The Dark Lord is planning on upping your torture levels soon," Greyback said after a moment. "Longer periods of the Cruciatus more often. Of course, he'll make sure you don't get Longbottom'd in the process. It'll be worse for you in the long run, though. Hate to say it, but you'd be better off just saying everything you know and doing so quickly. The Dark Lord is more merciful than I am. He would kill you. Not my style. Why do you think I try and infect children, hmm? It isn't out of taste preference. No, I like the thought of those kids being afflicted like I am. Protracted agony."

"You're sick," Charlie said, looking up at the werewolf, who simply shrugged.

"I am what I am," he replied non-committally. He then leaned forward and got close to Charlie's face. "Don't think I don't remember your brother. The older one. I remember biting him at Hogwarts. Ripped open his face, I did. Tell me, does he turn? I wasn't the wolf, but it might have worked. Does he face what I face every month?"

"No," Charlie said. "Tell me Fenrir, was it painful when you were bitten? Did you kill the thing that did that to you? Or perhaps you bowed down and kissed their feet and did their bidding like a good dog, just like you do to your new Master."

"__Crucio__!" Greyback shrieked as he stood from the chair, kicking it behind him as he went. Charlie thrashed for a long time. There was a sudden respite, but five seconds later the pain was again upon him. There was a second break, and then another curse and jolts of pain lancing through every fibre of his being.

"ENOUGH!"

The pain stopped, and Charlie was face down against the cold stone, his whole body limpand in immense pain. Charlie laughed then. He laughed loud and long.

"Listen to your master, dog," he said derisively to the stone below him and laughed some more. The cell door slammed shut and footsteps ascended away from the cell, Charlie's laughter following them.

Charlie didn't even try to sit up after he was left alone in the darkness. He was in far too much pain to do anything, so he managed to get as much onto his back as he could, and looked upwards into the darkness.

He might have fallen asleep, or he might simply have laid on the cold ground, staring into darkness for hours. He couldn't tell any longer. He didn't even dream any more. The darkness had even worked its way into his unconscious mind as well. Imprisonment was bad, but torture was worse.

Sooner or later, Charlie could no longer tell, light came again. Charlie was looking up at the ceiling that he could now see when it came, and didn't even attempt to look at who walked in.

"It is customary for one to stand to greet a visitor," Voldemort said in a laughing tone. "However, given your state, I do believe that you can be forgiven that, if nothing else."

Charlie said nothing.

"You are making this harder than it needs to be Charles," Voldemort said after a moment's silence. "You are of a Pureblood family. If you give me the information that I need, I could be persuaded to let you live among us for the rest of your days."

Charlie said nothing.

"No, I did not believe that something like that would work," Voldemort said, pacing the cell slowly. "A shame. One way or another, I will get the information that I need, and yet you would allow yourself to be killed over it when you need not be. Dumbledore trained you well. This, I believe, would be his way as well. No matter. There are easy ways out of this situation, but you have chosen the hard way. So be it. __Crucio__!"

Charlie wished that he could have endured the curse without making a noise. Without giving Voldemort the satisfaction of knowing that he was harming him in any way. Alas, Charlie screamed. He screamed loudly. It was over in a manner of seconds.

"Tell me what you know!" Voldemort yelled. When Charlie said nothing, Voldemort kicked his head with his foot. "Tell me now, fool, and maybe I will make your death painless!"

Charlie said nothing.

"__Crucio__!" Voldemort yelled, his voice now going high-pitched. Charlie screamed again and for longer this time as his body writhed, the pain from a million stab wounds permeating his entire being. Finally, Voldemort stopped the curse. "Tell me where they are!"

Charlie's breath was becoming ragged and uneasy and his head was feeling as though it was going to crack open at any moment.

Still, Charlie said nothing.

Voldemort sighed deeply and rubbed his temples. Charlie felt like if his muscles weren't in some kind of constant spasm, he might well have smiled.

"You are trying my patience," Voldemort threatened, malice running through everything he said. This was the Voldemort that Charlie had always imagined. "You are my PRISONER! You __will __tell me what I want to know! And you will do it soon! __Crucio__!"

Charlie screamed again, writhing in what seemed like eternal agony. Seconds later, the pain stopped.

"Tell me what I want to know," Voldemort said maliciously. "NOW! __Crucio__!"

Charlie was almost lifted off the ground by the force of this curse and screamed louder than he thought he could. The pain, somehow, was worse than it had been before. While the curse was still going, tears ran down Charlie's face. Charlie was breathing heavily when it was over. For a few seconds, he thought Voldemort would just remove a part of his body and then move on.

"I will leave you a broken man," Voldemort promised. "__Crucio__!"

The worsened pain was back again, and Charlie's back arched when it came. Only his head and the tips of his toes even touched the stone below. Voldemort didn't hold onto the curse for as long as the last time, and Charlie felt a vast relief come over him when the pain stopped, but not for very long.

"I will hurt you, and then I will hurt those you care about," Voldemort spat. "__Crucio__!"

The pain was, once again, worse. However, Voldemort let go after just a few seconds.

"You will __beg __me for mercy before this is over, Weasley," he said venomously. "You will __beg __for me to end your pathetic existence once and for all. __Crucio__!"

The pain lanced through Charlie immediately, and his back arched once again as the screams echoed off the stone walls of the windowless cells. Charlie could not tell how long Voldemort kept the Cruciatus on for. He only knew that it felt a lifetime. When it finally stopped, all was quiet.

As if waiting for the information he craved, Voldemort said nothing and only stared down at the redhead on the ground who painfully rolled over and spat out a glob of blood. He looked up at his torturer, the Darkest of all Dark Lords.

"I'm not going to beg you," Charlie said with as much conviction as his wavering, dry voice could muster. He saw Voldemort's mouth curl up into an ugly smile, terrifying to behold. "Not now. Not ever."

Charlie's last words reverberated in the stone cell for a few moments before silence once more took over, as it always did.

"We'll see," Voldemort said, his voice a mixture of annoyance and pleasure that chilled Charlie to his very bones. "__Crucio__!"


	32. The Article and the Journalist

**_**Disclaimer: **_**__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes.__

* * *

__**Chapter 32**__

**_**The Article and the Journalist**_**

"__The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers__."  
\- Thomas Jefferson

**_**Draco Malfoy**_**

**_**12**_****_**th **_****_**January, 2004**_**

There was a commotion outside the room that Draco and Astoria shared at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place which awakened Draco. He quickly found that Astoria was not next to him and he groaned. He sat up in the bed and rubbed his eyes. Just as he was about to stand from the bed, Astoria came rushing into the room clutching what looked to be a copy of __The Daily Prophet__. Before she shut the door behind her, Draco heard shouting.

"You need to read this," Astoria said.

"Good morning to you too," Draco said tiredly with a smile. Astoria simply thrust the __Daily Prophet __at him. Draco looked down at it.

"Oh, fuck," he said under his breath.

**_**BLOOD-TRAITOR AND PERPETRATOR OF RECENT ATTACKS KILLED**_**

__by __**_**Rita Skeeter**_**

__Following the recent terrorist attacks on the Ministry of Magic and the abandoned Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as well as the destruction of Azkaban Prison, the Ministry today released details of the events which were given to them by confirmed terrorist Charles Weasley, one of the infamously Muggle-infatuated Weasley clan. Weasley, long believed by the Ministry of Magic to have been killed during the glorious Battle of Hogwarts, was captured during an assault on the aforementioned Hogwarts School grounds and subsequently interrogated for information before the Dark Lord finally, and mercifully, executed the terrorist in a private ceremony. The Ministry has since released information regarding the blatant act of terrorism and those who perpetrated it.__

__On the sixth of January this month, a number of attacks occurred within a short span of time, causing much disarray within the community, as well as the death of several well-respected Witches and Wizards. These tragic events have left their mark on the community, and those within the Ministry have declared that they will do whatever necessary to protect their citizens.__

"__We live in a civil society," spokesperson for the Dark Lord, Amycus Carrow, told this reporter mere hours ago. "Civil societies are always harshly affected by these types of attacks, and we will not stand for them any longer. Our capture of Charles Weasley is just the beginning. We will find and capture the rest of those responsible, and until that time there is no need for panic. These people are spineless and could only act under the cover of chaos and destruction. If we keep our heads, we need not get caught again."__

__According to several trusted sources within the Ministry, Charles Weasley eventually caved and told all about the events of just a week ago. They say that they only had to threaten him and he was willing to spill the beans on everything, including plans and just who was involved.__

__According to Weasley, the terrorist group acted in retaliation to Astoria Malfoy being imprisoned for assisting Muggles during a routine clean-up assignment. Why the group targeted Hogwarts and the Ministry itself is being kept under wraps, and it is likely so as the truth is far too sinister for the likes of my readers. They have, however, since released a list of those who collaborated with Charles Weasley to attack our way of life. These names are most interesting as they were all listed as dead by the Ministry, who has now felt the need to look over these lists more carefully.__

__If any community member has seen, heard from or interacted with any of the following people in any way, shape or form, they should inform the Ministry so that they may take swift and immediate action.__

__William Weasley__

__Ginevra Weasley__

__Hermione Granger__

__Luna Lovegood__

__Alastor Moody__

__Hestia Jones__

__Dedalus Diggle__

__Draco Malfoy__

__Astoria Malfoy__

__Angelina Johnson__

__Alicia Spinnet__

__Katie Bell__

__Dennis Creevey__

__Edward Lupin__

__Though unmentioned by Weasley, there is also some speculation that former Undesirable No. 1, Susan Bones, may also be involved with the group, though this is unconfirmed at this time.__

__Those who assist in the Ministry finding and bringing these terrorists to justice will be rewarded richly, according to the Dark Lord himself.__

"__These terrorists cannot be allowed to live any longer," our esteemed leader said in a small press conference early this morning. "I will personally reward those who give us the means to find and neutralise these people."__

__The entire matter is under a full, comprehensive investigation until it is fully resolved.__

__FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE TERRORIST ATTACKS, SEE PAGE 20.__

Draco swore under his breath again as he stood quickly and got dressed in whatever he could find.

"Bill's not taking it well at all," Astoria said as Draco pulled on a pair of trousers. "Neither are Hermione or Ginny, but it appears that Bill is the worst affected."

"What about the others?" Draco asked.

"A mixed bag," Astoria said. "Luna is the only other person truly close to Charlie, but she's taking it as well as can be expected."

"Was it Bill doing the shouting?" Draco asked and Astoria nodded.

"Mad-Eye and Dedalus are trying to calm him down, but it hasn't been easy," she explained. Draco nodded and left the room. When he got downstairs, he found that Astoria's assessment had been right on the money. Luna was consoling Hermione while Ginny sobbed alone, with Hestia whispering in her ear. Bill was pacing the room, not shouting any more, but glaring at everyone with an intensity that even stopped Draco in his tracks for a moment. Dennis, Draco noticed, was nowhere to be seen.

"I am so sorry," Draco said to Bill, who glared at him as he approached. "Charlie was a good man, and he didn't deserve that."

"None of us do," Bill growled. His eyes flashed for a moment as he looked at Astoria, but he soon diverted his eyes back to Mad-Eye. "What's the plan, then?"

"There's no plan right now," Mad-Eye replied. "We lay low for a while."

"That's your council?" Bill shouted. Mad-Eye did not back down in the slightest. "Sit around and do nothing? They killed my brother! They murdered my wife! You cannot possibly believe that I will just sit and do nothing."

Bill charged forward, but Dedalus and Mad-Eye both stepped in front of him and barred his path. Faster than Draco had expected, Bill had his wand in his hand and pointed at Mad-Eye's head.

"That'll do you no good, son," Mad-Eye said. "Killing me __or __running off foolishly to your death."

"To my __vengeance__," Bill corrected, inching forward so that his wand almost touched Mad-Eye's magical eye.

"Aye, your vengeance," Mad-Eye nodded. "And your death. You run off to the Ministry with nothing but vengeance and adrenaline and you will be cut down and butchered like a dog. They have the numbers, unless you've forgotten. You wouldn't last ten seconds in their presence."

"Move," Bill threatened. "Now."

"Are you so quick to leave your children as orphans?" Draco suddenly said. "You want them to grow up parentless, do you?"

"Shut it, Malfoy," Bill warned.

"No, I don't think I will," Draco replied, walking up to Bill who pointed his wand away from Mad-Eye and towards Draco. Unperturbed, Draco continued to walk forward until the wand was poking him in the forehead. "You running off and getting yourself killed achieves nothing. It won't bring Charlie back, and in the end we will be two down instead of just one. I know that you are upset, and I understand the frustration. But you cannot think that this is a good idea."

"I want to hurt them," Bill growled. "I want them to pay for what they've done to my family."

"You will get that, just not now," Draco said evenly. "Charlie's death is terrible, yes. We will all grieve, many for a long time. But your death will do nothing to bring him back, and nor will it help any of us."

"Hermione, why won't you back me up?" Bill said stubbornly, his wand still in the same place on Draco's forehead. Hermione was silent. "Answer me."

"Bill, just leave her be," Hestia said quietly. "She lost Charlie too."

"I said, answer me," Bill growled, ignoring Hestia's comment. Hermione sniffled and looked up from Luna's shoulder.

"They're right," she said quietly, tears still running down her face. Bill growled.

"What use is vengeance if you're dead?" Draco asked, and Bill turned back to him. "What use are you to us if you're dead? What use are you to your children if you're dead? If you do what you want to do, you __will __die. That is indisputable."

"Listen to him," Dedalus said as Bill stared at Draco, his wand still having not moved from the spot in the middle of his forehead. "Now isn't the time."

Bill looked around the room before growling and finally lowering his wand. He stomped towards the stairs, picking up a vase from a table and hurling it at a wall, screaming as it smashed into dozens of pieces. He then proceeded to take the stairs two at a time, not saying a single word. After a few moments, Mad-Eye spoke up.

"Someone needs to tell Bell, Johnson and Spinnet," he said quickly. "If they all live and work under their real names, the Death Eaters could track them back to their home, or worse their workplace."

"I'll go," Hestia replied quickly. "But what the hell should they do?"

"See what they have to say," Mad-Eye replied, scratching his chin with his one remaining arm. "If they've been foolish enough to use their own names rather than assumed identities, it would be best for all involved if they quit their jobs and sever all ties with the workplace. This house is big enough to house them if need be."

"Got it," Hestia said, nodding and taking some Floo powder and throwing it in the nearby fireplace. "If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, come looking." Within seconds she was gone.

"What about Dennis?" Luna asked suddenly.

"He's already on it," Mad-Eye replied. "Far as I can tell, he'll bring his Muggle friends here if they'll come. If they won't … well, that's a problem for another day, and frankly one that we don't really have the resources to deal with."

"Good," Luna said.

"As for the rest of us, there is little that we can do," Mad-Eye said. "They can't reach us here, so we can sit this out for a time. Until the Ministry's weak again."

"We could do __something__," Draco said.

"What's that?" Mad-Eye growled.

"Did anyone mention Hugo Brantell to you?" Draco asked. Mad-Eye shook his head almost imperceptibly. "No, I suppose it hasn't been the number one priority. Shortly after Christmas, I visited Brantell. You know who he is?"

"Journalist," Mad-Eye said in response. "Claims to be an empath."

"He __is __an empath," Draco corrected. "I spoke to him about using his abilities to discern potential allies within the magical community itself. He was due to have a list prepared for me in the last few days, but with everything going on, I haven't really had time to see him."

"We can't exactly make allies in our position at the moment," Dedalus said. "It's too dangerous."

"That might be true," Astoria said suddenly. "At least if we go to him, we will know who to look to when the time comes. That knowledge could be the difference between success and failure."

"Agreed," Mad-Eye said and looked to Draco. "When Hestia gets back, you can go. Only then, though. Understood?"

"I'm going with him," Astoria said. Moody simply nodded and then walked into the kitchen with Dedalus.

"I don't want you to come," Draco said quietly.

"Just why not?" Astoria asked, and Draco raised one eyebrow.

"Don't pretend you haven't considered that it's a trap," Draco replied. "Charlie knew about Brantell. If he told the Dark Lord that Brantell is helping us, they will try and use him as bait."

"And what?" Astoria said derisively. "You expect me to sit around and do nothing while my gallant husband braves the potential trap for a list? You know me better than that. You already risked your life once without me, and your father tried to kill you. At least let me have the chance to help save your life."

"I wasn't going to stop you from going," Draco said, sighing. "I just don't like it."

"We all do things we don't like, dear," Astoria said, kissing Draco on the cheek.

The hinges of the front door squeaked in the almost total silence. Draco looked down the hallway to see Dennis entering, with two people that Draco, one of whom he recognised and one he didn't. The tall, lanky one with short brown hair was Patrick Stevenson, who Draco had met when Dennis took Astoria's Portkey to their home. The woman with them was Samantha Pritchard, a rather stunning woman who was a few years younger than Draco. She was also just slightly taller than Astoria, and had long blonde hair with a streak of pink in it.

"New houseguests?" Draco asked.

"Not quite," Dennis replied and Draco turned to Samantha.

"Draco Malfoy," he said. Samantha smiled at that. "This is my wife, Astoria."

"Samantha Pritchard," she replied, nodding to both of them. "I can't say that Dennis has spoken much of either of you, but it's a pleasure nonetheless, even under these circumstances."

"Dennis said this was dangerous, but I don't think we ever expected it to be this bad," Patrick said.

"Regretting getting involved?" Draco asked and both Samantha and Patrick shook their heads.

"It's terrifying, yes," Samantha said. "But we can't just ignore this. Dennis has done a lot for us over the years, so it's difficult to say no when it comes to him."

"Besides, these two are the only people I even have left," Patrick said with a shrug. "I need to make sure I don't lose them too."

"Admirable," Astoria said. "Well, I'm sure you are welcome to stay here for as long as you need to. I'm sure the people who own this place would want to tell you that themselves, but I'm afraid that they're not in a good condition for that at the moment."

"I didn't think they would be," Samantha said. "But we're not staying here. Bill mentioned something about charmed jewellery and Portkeys. We thought that might be enough for now."

"If that is what I'm thinking it is," Draco mused, "it would certainly be enough under most situations."

"Would Mad-Eye know how to do something like this?" Astoria asked, and Draco laughed.

"It's a precautionary measure," Draco said. "Of course he does."

"I just thought of something," Hermione said, suddenly at Draco's side. "I know you are going to see Hugo Brantell. I've been thinking about something for a few days now."

"What's that?" Draco asked.

"Can you ask him to try and use his ability to look into the Death Eaters?" Hermione asked. "He might be able to find a weakness in their ranks that we could eventually exploit."

"I know ways we can strong-arm a lot of Death Eaters, but there is certainly something to be said for this approach," Draco said, scratching his ear. "He will be able to see things that I can't. I suppose it couldn't hurt to ask at least. If he's willing, it might end up being of some help to us." Hermione nodded.

"Hello," she said in a fake cheery voice to Samantha and Patrick. "I heard what you were asking, and I'm certain that we'll be able to come up with that for you."

"Thank you," Samantha replied, grasping Hermione's arm. "We're so sorry for your loss." Hermione smiled weakly.

"I wish I could say that it came as a shock," she said, slightly morosely. "Unfortunately, I can't, really. Come on, I'll take you to see Alastor about those pendants." Hermione turned and walked towards the kitchen, taking both Samantha and Patrick with her.

"You're going to do something today?" Dennis asked and Draco nodded.

"We're going to see Hugo Brantell," he confirmed. "Did anyone tell you about him?"

"I think so," Dennis replied. "The empathic journalist, right?"

"That's him," Astoria said.

"I can go with you if you like," Dennis offered.

"No, that's fine," Astoria said after a moment. "You need to stay here with Teddy for now. People might not be able to recognise you as easily as they can everyone else, but there is no point in you risking it."

"You two are," Dennis pointed out.

"Well, Brantell knows me," Draco replied. "Plus, we need his list now more than ever. Besides, we don't have a kid to take care of like you do." There was a sudden silence after that.

"I do have to take care of him, don't I?" Dennis asked. "I … I hadn't thought of it like that. Not really. For some reason I just kept thinking he was just my little brother, but he's not. I'm his guardian now."

"It seems so," Astoria replied kindly. "I wouldn't worry too much, though. Everyone here will help you out. They have done that with Victoire and Louis ever since they were born. You won't have to be a single parent."

"Do you happen to know where he is?" Dennis asked.

"Last I heard he was in playing with Victoire," Astoria replied. Dennis laughed.

"They get along quite well, but the age gap is a bit of a problem," he said. "It's a pity there's no kids his own age here."

"Maybe when things calm down you can put him back into a Muggle school," Astoria suggested. "Until then he's fine with Victoire. Most of the time." Dennis laughed.

"Thanks, I'll go and find him," he said, smiling before he left the two of them alone.

"You know Teddy is kind of related to me," Draco said suddenly. "His mother, Nymphadora, was my cousin. Her mother was Andromeda Tonks, sister to my mother. Not that my mother ever cared. Andromeda was dead to her when she married a Muggle-born."

"Maybe you should get to know him," Astoria suggested. "It might do him some good as well to know that he has some family left."

"I'm not good with kids," Draco said. Astoria rolled her eyes.

"So you've said before," she replied. "But if you don't ever interact with them, you won't ever get used to them. We'll have kids one day, so I think it would be best if you actually got used to them now."

"You might be right," Draco said.

"I _am_ right," Astoria said with a laugh. "Do you really think that Lucius was ever that good with kids? What kind of a father was he?"

"A good point well made," Draco replied with a smile. "Starting tomorrow I'll try to get to know him."

"Very good," Astoria said and kissed Draco on the cheek. As she did so the fireplace flared up and Hestia walked through.

"How did it go?" Astoria asked.

"Pretty well, actually," Hestia replied. "Angelina was the only problem, but she only used her real surname, and gave a fake first name. It should be enough. Alicia and Katie have not used their real names. The house is a bit more of a problem, but it would take some digging that I don't think that the Death Eaters would be willing to do to find all that out."

"Well, there's some good news today, at least" Astoria commented.

"Did they know about Charlie?" Draco asked, and Hestia shook her head.

"Angelina was at work, so I only talked to Katie and Alicia," she explained. "No one there has any way of getting __The Daily Prophet__, so they didn't have a clue. Their names being involved didn't seem to worry them in the slightest."

"They likely guessed they would be the easiest ones to list," Draco said. "Nothing else of note?"

"Not particularly," Hestia replied. "They said they would call in when Angelina finishes work for the day."

"We should probably tell them to warn the Fogarty's about this," Astoria said thoughtfully. "They're not in any direct danger, but Angelina, Alicia and Katie are, so they still need to be warned."

"Perhaps we can make jewellery for them as well," Draco put in. "Make them feel safer."

"Good idea," Astoria said. "We'll talk to Mad-Eye about it when we get back."

"Where are you going?" Hestia asked.

"To see Hugo Brantell," Draco explained.

"Room for one more?" Hestia asked. "I know Hugo. He was in the year above me at Hogwarts. We were both in Hufflepuff."

"You were in Hufflepuff?" Draco asked, slightly incredulously. "You don't seem the type."

"I do believe I've become more Gryffindor in my old age," Hestia said with a smile. "But it's true. The whole school was wary of Hugo when it was revealed that he was an empath in my third year. He told someone he shouldn't have, it seems. I was even wary of him as well, I'm ashamed to admit. There was something about a boy who could read my every feeling that unnerved thirteen year old me. And everyone else, it seemed."

"In that case, you can come," Draco said. "We shouldn't be there too long, but it might be useful having someone who actually knows him."

"Unless something goes wrong," Hestia said gravely. "Constant vigilance."

"We had considered that," Astoria said. "It's unlikely, because if Brantell had been caught aiding us, we would have heard about it by now. Still, there is that possibility."

"Absolutely," Hestia said, nodding. "I'll just go and tell Alastor what's going on and we can go. Sound good?" Draco and Astoria nodded and Hestia walked away.

"Well, there was no hesitation on your part there," Astoria said jokingly. "And yet you would deny your loving wife."

"How nefarious of me," Draco replied. "Wanting my lovely, loving wife away from danger is just purely nefarious. There is no other word for it." Astoria hugged Draco after that. Moments later, Hestia was back.

"I'll have to Apparate you both there," Draco said, and the two women nodded as they walked out of the front door. "So if each of you could take one of my arms."

"A woman on each arm?" Astoria asked with a smirk as she took his right arm. "Dear husband, I do hope you aren't suggesting something."

"I'm not sure I would mind," Hestia replied, taking his left arm. "He's kind of cute, you know."

"I had noticed," Astoria replied. "I mean, look. He's blushing. I don't believe I have ever seen him blush. Well, not since the wedding night at least. You see, I had –"

"That's enough," Draco said quickly and the two women giggled. "We need to go."

"Take us, you big strong man," Hestia said seductively as Astoria began to laugh harder. Draco decided to simply ignore them and turned on his heel. A moment later, they were standing in a bright alleyway, devoid of any life. Astoria was still laughing when they got there.

"Life was so much simpler when we were living alone," Draco grumbled.

"Simpler, sure," Astoria said, as Hestia let go of Draco's arm. "I think I like this better, though. I don't get to tease you nearly as much as I should."

"You'll finish the story later, right?" Hestia asked Astoria.

"Of course," Astoria said in a deliberately loud whisper. "In detail."

"He lives just around here," Draco said, trying to ignore the two women, but failing to do so as they burst out laughing again. "His house is across the street."

"It's a bit rundown," Hestia commented.

"I don't think he bothers to take too much care of it," Draco replied. "And without a House Elf, he is probably too busy to do so."

"Even so, it wouldn't take too much to at least cut the grass down a little bit," Astoria said. "It's brushing my calves."

Draco walked up to the front door and knocked. For a few moments, he thought that Brantell was not at home, but then the door swung open.

"Malfoy?" Brantell asked, surprised before his face turned stern. "Are you crazy coming here right now? The entire Ministry is looking for you." Brantell guided Draco inside and looked at the two women for a moment before letting them in as well.

"We thought it would be best to see you now," Draco replied. "Besides, I doubt they would be looking for us here."

"No, but that's because they've already been to check the house," Brantell replied. "Just an hour ago. Every house of anyone in Magical Britain is being checked today and tomorrow to try and find all of you. I see you brought your wife and Miss Jones with you."

"How are you, Hugo?" Hestia asked, and the man shrugged.

"Don't feel bad, Hestia," Brantell said. "Everyone at Hogwarts was afraid of me. They still are for the most part. I'm not going to hold it against you. If I held it against everyone who didn't like my empath ability, I would be a very bitter and lonely man. Well, a more bitter and lonely man than I currently am."

"We just wanted to get that list off you," Draco said after a moment's awkward silence.

"Oh, yes," Brantell replied absent-mindedly as he grasped his wand. "__Accio list__." Several pieces of paper and parchment flew at Brantell, and he gathered it all together. "It's here somewhere. I really should organise things better.

"As I was saying, the Ministry is very interested in finding all of you," Brantell said as he looked over a list. "I take it all of the names were correct?"

"More or less," Astoria replied.

"So, yes then," Brantell replied, looking at Astoria before turning back to the pages in his hands. "Quite a line-up you have gathered. If I were a positive man, I might have wondered if somehow you had managed to even have Harry Potter himself with you. Of course, that would be too much, wouldn't it? Overkill, you might say.

"Anyway, the Ministry would reward me quite well if I had the mind to turn you all in," Brantell said as he discarded another list to the floor. "I won't do it, mind you. Just a thought. You should be more careful in the future."

"Alastor wanted us to use Polyjuice," Hestia said. "I told him it wasn't necessary. He didn't like it, but he didn't push the issue either."

"Alastor Moody living up to his reputation, I see," Brantell replied. "You would be wise to listen to him more closely in the future. I won't inquire as to where exactly, but are you somewhere that the Ministry could find?"

"No," Draco said simply.

"No, I didn't think so," Brantell said, handing Draco a list. "There it is." Draco looked at the names on it. Most of the names he knew, and had predicted would end up on the list. Draco was rather amused to see Gilderoy Lockhart as one of the names on the list.

"Not as many names as we would have liked," Draco said, sighing. "It will have to do."

"I only wrote down the names of those who were truly against the regime," Brantell explained. "There were others who were, shall we say, not happy with all of the goings on, but their allegiance, it seemed, was still firmly to the Ministry. Not surprising, really. As much as people might want to believe otherwise, most people are perfectly happy no matter who is in charge, as long as their lives aren't being impacted. Perhaps if there were more Half-bloods or Muggle-borns there would be more names on that list, but most of the former and all of the latter are gone from society now."

"We're happy for all of your help," Astoria said. "It means a lot that you would put your life at risk to help us."

"I can sense that you are going to ask me to do some more," Brantell said in a resigned tone.

"You're not wrong," Draco said grimly. "We were thinking that maybe you could look a bit closer at the Death Eaters and the higher-ups at the Ministry and try to find some weakness we might be able to use against them."

"We would really be in your debt then," Hestia put in, and Brantell looked at her.

"It's certainly more dangerous than what you had me do previously," he mused. "I don't mind, though. I want this all over with as much as you all do. Fine, I'll do it. It'll take much longer than the other did, though. The Death Eaters are harder to read and they're also harder to get at. As are the other higher-ups. I can do it, though."

"Thank you," Hestia said.

"I just had one more thing to ask," Draco said, and all eyes turned to him. "You're pretty heavily involved in the goings on of the Ministry, correct? You know a lot about what they're doing?"

"More than most, yes," Brantell said, confused.

"Well then, can you tell me why it took them so long to say anything about Charlie Weasley?" Draco asked. There was a silence that Draco broke. "We know he had to be captured on the sixth, and they have only just now mentioned him. That seems suspicious."

"I don't really know what to tell you," Brantell said after a moment. "Nobody had even heard that they had captured anybody during those events until the press conference early this morning. Not officially anyway. I was there with a few other journalists even though Skeeter wouldn't let me cover it afterwards. Everything we know was in the article this morning. We have heard nothing else. It does seem odd that they went about it this way."

"Yes, it does," Draco said thoughtfully. "Though no one will admit it, he had to have been tortured. There is no way that it happened as Skeeter said and that he just gave us all up."

"Oh, torture without a doubt," Brantell agreed, nodding. "No one believed that story. At least, not the journalists."

"Well, I can't think of anything else that we need," Astoria said after a moment. "We'll be off now."

"Of course," Brantell said. "Come and see me in a few weeks and I might have some information for you. It is far too risky for me to contact you."

"We will definitely do that," Draco replied, as he walked towards the door. He was stopped by Hestia's voice.

"I'm sorry, Hugo," she said. "I know you said that I shouldn't feel bad, but I do. You're a good man."

"Sometimes," Brantell replied. "I accept your apology. Not many have bothered with that over the years."

"I might never have had it not been for these two coming to see you," Hestia said. "Stay safe."

"Goodbye," Brantell said, seemingly to everyone.

As Draco, Astoria and Hestia stepped out onto the lawn, Astoria stopped Draco.

"What was that about?" she asked curiously. "Why ask him about Charlie?"

"Doesn't it all seem odd to you?" Draco asked.

"Not before, but it does now," Hestia replied.

"I had thought something was off, but I didn't think too much about it," Astoria replied. "What do you think it is?"

"I can't put my finger on it," Draco said. "There is just something that seems off about the whole situation. Why didn't he execute him publicly? Why only announce something after all this time?"

"What are you getting at?" Hestia asked.

"Nothing in particular," Draco replied. "I just think that we should be considering that there might be more to this than what we've read."


	33. Ignorance of the Expected

**_**Disclaimer: **_**__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes.__

* * *

**_**Chapter 33**_**

**_**Ignorance of the Expected**_**

"__There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true__."  
\- Søren Kierkegaard

**_**Angelina Johnson**_**

**_**13**_****_**th **_****_**January, 2004**_**

Angelina had returned to work five days prior, a Thursday, and since the events at Azkaban had tried her very best to avoid Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. In fact, she had only returned once, and that was for what turned out to be a debrief of sorts about the events that had transpired just days before, including the revelation that she, Alicia and Katie had not been saved by Gilderoy Lockhart, but by Dolores Umbridge. She should have been surprised at that, but ever since she had discovered that her inner wolf was able to kill the seemingly immortal, unkillable, Dementors, Angelina had found it difficult to be surprised at anything at all.

At Azkaban, Angelina had simply acted on instinct. A mixture of her own and the wolf's instincts that the Wolfsbane potion was used to dull. She tore unthinkingly into the evil creatures with no remorse. No thought. Nothing. She just did it because it was the only thing that she could feel was important to do at the time. Even later on, she was able to rationalise it by knowing that she likely saved the lives of Astoria Malfoy and Teddy Lupin, not to mention Bill, Dennis and Moody, but even that positive outcome could not stop the thoughts running through her head.

Every night since the Full Moon, Angelina was the wolf again, back at Azkaban, alone this time save for the Demebrots roaming the smocking and cracking halls of the most inhuman building ever conceived of in a human mind. She prowled the halls, the stone beneath her feet falling apart with every step she took, tearing into Dementor after Dementor, hearing their screams as they smoked and died a quick, painful death by her sharp teeth. All around Azkaban was melting into piles of black sludge, piling on the ground around her. She always managed to stay ahead of the sludge and never once got stuck, no matter how much she feared that she would. She continued to tear into every Dementor she could find, until a shard of rock from the very top of Azkaban cracked and fell on her and melted into the sludge she had tried so hard to avoid.

It was at that moment when she would awaken, drenched in cold sweat, with her heart racing.

The day after the first dream, she talked to Alicia and Katie, both of whom assured her that she had not been making any noise. In fact, Angelina was acutely aware that, despite the traumatising nature of her dreams, she did not seem to struggle in her bed, nor make any sound. The only proof that Angelina had even been dreaming were the vivid memories and the sweat falling down her forehead and into her eyes.

Though she believed it to be entirely ridiculous, Angelina still found herself feeling incredibly guilty about what she had done, and berated herself for feeling that way. She would tell herself that Dementors are the foulest beings to ever set foot on the Earth, with no redeeming qualities in the slightest, though no matter how hard she tried she could not shake the guilt.

"Are you okay, Miss Johnson?" a voice asked, snapping her out of her reverie. She looked forward to see Matt Fogarty looking at her, concern in his young eyes. The rest of the class was nowhere to be seen.

"Shouldn't you be having lunch?" Angelina asked quietly.

"I'm worried about you, so I wanted to see you," Matt replied. "I did knock, but you didn't answer."

"That's okay," Angelina said with a smile. "It's nice of you to be concerned, but I'm fine. Nothing wrong at all."

"Yes there is," Matt replied. "Ever since the last Full Moon you've been acting funny."

"Maybe it's because of just that," Angelina suggested softly. "The Full Moon."

"No, it isn't," Matt said firmly. "You aren't you. You keep acting really weird. All the others say so too."

"The others?" Angelina asked.

"Everyone in our class," Matt said. "They've been talking about it ever since last Thursday." Angelina sighed.

"You're right," she said resignedly. "There is something wrong. But I can't tell you."

"Yes you can," Matt said, his eyes wide. "I won't tell anyone."

"No," Angelina said. "No, I can't."

"Please?" Matt asked and Angelina shook her head violently.

"No, and that's final," she said firmly. Perhaps too firmly, because she could see that she had hurt his feelings. "You're too young to be burdened with this, alright? I won't tell you. I won't. Go outside and play with your friends."

Matt looked like he was about to say something else, but seemingly thought against it and turned away with a sad look on his face. Suddenly Angelina felt even guiltier, but she pushed it back down. __I won't burden a ten year old with this__, she thought as she watched Matt walk out of the room, his shoulders slouched slightly. __Not this__.

The rest of the work day went by slowly. Whenever Angelina looked at Matt, he looked away from her, and each time this happened, Angelina felt more and more guilty. She tried her best to act happier. More like she had been before Azkaban so that the kids might not pick up so much on it, but she feared that they knew it was a façade. They all looked at her with pitying eyes, and it seemed sometimes as though they could see the secret she was keeping from them.

Not for the first time, Angelina thought back to Remus Lupin teaching her all those years ago. He had resigned after it became public knowledge that he was a werewolf. Angelina had been surprised at the news, but she felt no animosity towards Professor Lupin, as he seemed like a perfectly fine man and an even better teacher. What would happen to her if it came out that she was a werewolf? Not that the Muggle populous would believe it, of course, but Angelina worried nonetheless as the eyes of her students bore into her.

The day finally came to a close and Angelina checked in with the Headmaster who told her that he, too, had noticed something of a change within her recently. Angelina couldn't come up with any convincing lie and simply told him that she was going through a rough patch. Even he looked at her with those piteous eyes as well, and it burned inside of her as it had done when it came from her kids.

When she finally got home, she found that it was empty and quiet. She sat down on a lounge chair and closed her eyes. Soon enough, she was dreaming again. She was back in the skin of the wolf, prowling the halls of Azkaban, passing cell after cell, finding no one. With each step, her paws seemed to heat up and steam until she took another step and her pawprint was embedded into the stone. She came to a corner and as she was about to turn, a Dementor glided in front of her. Without thinking, Angelina leapt at the monster and tore at the place where its throat should have been. Death and decay filled her mouth as smoke poured from the wound she had created. The Dementor screeched a piercing screech and fell to the ground. Then another came, and Angelina quickly dispatched that one.

Angelina had been still for too long and her paws were starting to heat up, so she took a flying start and bolted down the hallway as the surround walls started to melt and crumble away. Dementor after Dementor came out of nowhere to stand in her path, and Angelina dispatched each one with a callous rip of the throat, to the point that behind her was nothing but a trail of smoke engulfing the floor and the falling stone. Eventually, Angelina found herself in the courtyard of the prison, dispatching Dementor after Dementor as rock fell from above her, landing and being swallowed by the black misty smoke around her. Finally, there was one Dementor left and as she ripped out its throat, the screech was seemingly unending. She looked upwards, howling, as she saw the melting piece of stone hurtling towards her head. She howled as long as she could until the rock crushed her.

Angelina awoke, as always, in a cold sweat. She looked around wildly only to see the Fogarty's standing right next to her.

"H-hello," Angelina said, wiping the sweat off her forehead. "I didn't hear you come in."

"That's why we came in, dear," Wendy said, a concerned look on her face. "You didn't answer, and we were worried."

"I'm fine," Angelina said, standing. "But thank you for worrying."

"You are not fine," Robert said firmly. "You wouldn't wake, no matter what we did."

"I'm a heavy sleeper," Angelina said with an attempt at a smile.

"I told them what you told me," Matt said, his eyes betraying the fear he felt inside. "That you couldn't tell me what was wrong."

"No, I said I wouldn't," Angelina replied. "And I won't."

"Angie, you are clearly going through something," Wendy said softly. "Matt seems to think it has something to do with your … transformation."

"It does," Angelina confirmed. "But I'm not going to concern you needlessly with the details."

"You looked fine while you were asleep," Robert commented, "but as soon as you woke up, it looked like you were terrified. That doesn't look good."

"I'll be fine," Angelina said firmly. "It will just take some time."

"Why won't you just tell us?" Robert asked. "What don't you want us to know?"

"It isn't that I don't __want __you to know," Angelina said. "It's just that I don't think you should."

"What harm can it do?" Wendy asked. Angelina looked at her sharply and her heart rate went up. Even before she began talking, she saw the look on Wendy's face.

"What harm?!" Angelina yelled. "Oh, you want to know so badly, here it is then! The glorious Ministry of Magic decided to imprison Astoria Malfoy, the wife of one of the only people who are actively helping our cause, and Teddy Lupin, a five year old boy who did nothing but be taken care of by the wrong person. They were kept in a prison guarded by beings of pure darkness that force you to relieve every bad memory and drain all of the happiness from you piece by piece. A five year old, I tell you!

"We all decided to go on a rescue mission to get them back and, hopefully, stop the murdering of innocents by the Ministry. We had several groups. Alicia, Katie and myself, we got ourselves captured by the Ministry to start a diversion. We were __seconds __away from being executed by You-Know-Who himself. __Seconds__! If it weren't for Alastor Moody and his connections, we would be dead.

"But we got away, and then I decided to go and help at the prison. In my werewolf form. Oh, that is a terrible place, even when you can't feel the Dementors' presence. We found Astoria and Teddy in cells, alone and uncared for. They had tortured Teddy badly. Meanwhile, I was killing the immortal. I ripped the throats out of the Dementors and they shrieked, bled smoke and died. When we got to the roof, we were set upon by Death Eaters. We left Moody behind, but came back for him whereupon we found him surrounded by Death Eaters who had severed his arm off. Then, as luck would have it, I angered the Dementors into rising against the very prison that they guarded and it crumbled to the ground.

"When I turned back into me," Angelina said weakly, sitting down and putting her head into her hands. "I could still taste them in my mouth. I still can. Death and decay. Rotting corpses. Old bones. I still taste it now. We achieved what we set out to do, but Moody lost an arm, Charlie's dead and a five year old was tortured in a manner that would be despicable for a fully grown adult to endure. And I dream of the crumbling prison. In the dreams I still kill those Dementors. I rip their throats out and they die. Every night.

"Is that what you wanted to know?!" Angelina shouted as tears came to her eyes. "Do you see now the harm that it can do?!"

Angelina sat back and started crying. As she was weeping, she felt small arms reach around her.

"It's okay," Matt whispered to her as he hugged her. Angelina didn't know how long she cried for, but when she stopped, Wendy and Robert were both sitting, awestruck, on a couch nearby. Angelina patted the back of Matt's head and he backed away.

"We didn't know," Wendy said.

"We are so sorry," Robert continued. Angelina laughed roughly.

"So am I," she said. "I wish it all hadn't happened."

"They really tortured that poor boy?" Wendy asked and Angelina nodded.

"He won't leave Dennis' side now," she confirmed.

"Who's Dennis?" Robert asked. Angelina filled them in on what had happened with Dennis. "How did so much happen so quickly?"

"We had to act," Angelina said with a shrug. "Who knows what would have happened if we didn't."

"But that boy," Wendy said. "He's okay?"

"I haven't been to see them in a few days, and before that I barely saw him," Angelina replied. "I think he's getting better, though."

"I can't imagine Matt, or my next child, ever being in danger like that," Wendy said solemnly as her husband wrapped his arms around her.

"I keep forgetting that you're pregnant," Angelina said, jumping on anything to change the conversation. "The end of April, right?"

"Yes," Wendy said with a small smile. "Will you be okay?"

"Eventually," Angelina said with a nod. "I've decided to get some Dreamless Sleep potion from Ginny for tonight. I might even stay there with them. As much as I enjoy the company of Alicia and Katie, I think I need to go there. Face some things."

"I'll go with you," Matt said suddenly and all three eyes were on him. "I want to stay and make sure that you're safe." Angelina smiled.

"I'll be safe, I promise," she said, squeezing Matt's arm. "Thank you, but I think you should stay with your parents."

"But I want to go with you," Matt said, his eyes getting big once again.

"No, you really –"

"And I'll get to see more magic," Matt said. "I'll read some of the books as well." Angelina sighed and looked at Wendy and Robert.

"It's up to your parents," Angelina said. Wendy and Robert looked at each other.

"We could use a night alone," Wendy said. "Plus, we trust all of you there, so we'll let him stay the night there. Provided that you get him home before school tomorrow."

"Thank you," Matt said, running to his mother and hugging her.

"You have to promise to be good for everyone there," Robert said as Matt hugged him too. "If they tell you to do something, you do it, no questions asked."

"And when you are told to go to bed, you go to bed," Wendy said sternly and looked at Angelina. "He'll try to worm his way into a later bed-time. No later than nine-thirty." Angelina laughed.

"Nine-thirty it is," she replied with a weak smile.

"We'll take him home and send him back over with his pyjamas," Robert said. "I think the ones with the little yellow duckies will do nicely."

"No, Dad," Matt said in a long-suffering tone. "The good ones."

"They are the good ones," Robert insisted. "Duckies are good, aren't they?"

"Don't ask me," Angelina said. "I've had some bad experience with ducks. Vicious they are."

"Well then, we'll get the pair that __don't __have the ducks on them," Robert said with a laugh, and Matt visibly sighed in relief.

A few moments later and the Fogarty's were gone, with Matt set to return in around fifteen minutes. Angelina wondered to herself if she should pack anything, but decided that if she needed anything, she could just come back for it later, and sat in the same position, thinking on everything that had happened over the course of such a short amount of time.

Her reverie was broken by a frantic knock at the front door. Angelina shouted for them to come in and Matt came bouncing into the room.

"You look excited," Angelina commented, and Matt nodded.

"I love going to Grimmauld Place," Matt said with a grin. "Mainly because of all the magic."

"I gathered," Angelina said, before frowning slightly. "I'm sorry you had to hear all of that. You shouldn't have to know about those kinds of things."

"It's okay," Matt said. "I'm nearly eleven now. I'm not a little kid anymore."

"No, but some of what happened … it's not pleasant," Angelina said.

"Yeah," Matt replied. "But bad things happen all the time. Mum and Dad watch the news all the time, and I hear and see bad things on there. It's not the same, but it's also not different."

"I thought people might be scared of me," Angelina admitted, though she wasn't sure why it was Matt she was admitting it to. "What I did … it scares __me__, so I can't imagine what it must do to other people."

"You saved my life," Matt said simply. "I'm not scared of you." Angelina smiled despite herself.

"No, I suppose you're right," she said. "We should probably get you to Grimmauld. I'm just going to leave Alicia and Katie a note, and then we can go."

Angelina picked up a piece of paper, searched for a pen for a minute, and then scribbled a quick note to her friends.

__Just gone to the Hiding Place. Will stay there tonight. Matt's with me. Long story. Don't go out tonight, I won't be here to make sure you get to bed alright. And don't burn the place down.__

__Angie__

Angelina placed the note on the dining table where she knew one of the two of them would see. When she did so, she went to the fireplace and threw some Floo powder in and green flames leapt up.

"You remember what to do?" Angelina asked, and Matt nodded.

"Stand in there and say where I want to go," he replied.

"And where is that?" Angelina asked.

"Number 12, Grimmauld Place," Matt said and Angelina nodded.

"You go first so I know you did it right," Angelina said. Matt nodded and stepped into the flames.

"Number 12, Grimmauld Place," he said clearly and in a moment he was gone. Angelina waited for a few seconds, as she was certain that Matt did not have a clean exit. After a moment, she too stepped into the fireplace and said the house name. As she arrived, she took an easy step forward and avoided falling on her face. Judging by Matt's shaken look upon her arrival, he had not avoided that fate.

"Hello Angelina," Luna said as Angelina used her wand to clean herself and Matt off. "What brings you and young Matthew here today?"

"We were hoping to stay the night here, if you don't mind," Angelina replied. Luna's eyes lit up at that.

"Of course, it's okay," she said with a grin. "You are always welcome here. You too, Matt. We've all got some showing off to do, no doubt."

"Magic, you mean?" Matt said eagerly. Luna nodded.

"Where's everyone else?" Angelina asked.

"Ginny's with Bill somewhere," Luna replied. "Draco and Astoria are actually preparing dinner at the moment, with the help of Kreacher of course. Hermione is hard at work creating some charmed jewellery for Dennis' friends and Dennis himself is visiting his Aunt. Teddy is just over there watching television."

"Hello," Teddy said from the couch, looking at Matt with some trepidation.

"Hey Teddy," Angelina said, walking over to the boy. "This is Matt. He's a friend of mine, and he's going to stay here tonight."

"Oh," Teddy said. "Hello then."

"Hello," Matt said. "How old are you?"

"I'm five," Teddy replied. "I'll be six soon."

"Cool," Matt said, a little too enthusiastically as Angelina turned to Luna.

"Is Mad-Eye around?" she asked and Luna nodded.

"He's in the library helping Hermione," she replied. "Surprisingly enough, he's quite good at specialised detection charms. Strange that." Angelina laughed.

"Absolutely," she said. "Can you keep an eye on Matt for me? Maybe show him a bit of magic. I need to talk to Mad-Eye."

"Of course," Luna said with a smile. "I've always enjoyed showing Matt magic."

"Thanks," Angelina muttered and walked up the stairs and eventually found the library. After some searching, she came upon Mad-Eye and Hermione, the latter of whom was working on charming the jewellery.

"Mind if I talk with you?" Angelina asked Mad-Eye, who nodded. Hermione didn't even seem to notice Angelina's presence at all. Angelina and Mad-Eye found a quiet alcove in the large library.

"Where've you been?" Mad-Eye asked. "Haven't seen you in days."

"I've been hiding," Angelina admitted. "I just can't seem to shake what happened at Azkaban."

"What happened at Azkaban was you saved a woman and a child from a horrible fate," Mad-Eye replied in a low growl, though Angelina felt that he was being somewhat nice to her. "Everything else is irrelevant."

"It's not, though," Angelina insisted. "How do you think it felt to be able to kill Dementors, knowing that I was already in the body of a beast?"

"Dementors are foul creatures," Mad-Eye said. "It's a good thing that the ones you killed are gone from this planet."

"I agree with that," Angelina said somewhat hastily. "But that doesn't take away from how it felt. How it tasted. It was horrific."

"No doubt it was," Mad-Eye grunted. "I've always said that to kill those things it would take something very dark. Even the Killing Curse doesn't work on them. And dark, though helpful, is still dark. Your reasons weren't dark though. You killed them, not because you set out to, but because it was the only thing to do. The fact that you're a werewolf doesn't matter. Not all werewolves need be dark beings."

"I just …" Angelina began. "I can't stop dreaming it. It's not even really what happened. Everything is just worse. Every night I kill them again as the world around me crumbles and melts. I can't just put it aside because I see it every night."

"Ah," Mad-Eye said, showing an uncharacteristic amount of empathy. "That I know. I used to be an Auror. You don't go through that without doing terrible things, and those that do aren't good Aurors. I've killed my fair share of people, and I've been the reason for the deaths of innocents. I remember, very early on, I had dreams as well. Then they went away."

"How?" Angelina asked.

"You learn to live with it," Mad-Eye said. "It's like learning to walk. You'll screw up a lot, and it will take quite a long time to master it. But eventually you start walking and then it's like you've always been doing it."

"Isn't that callous?" Angelina asked.

"Most say so," Mad-Eye said with a shrug. "Don't think I don't know what people think about me. I know my reputation. People see me as a hard, unfeeling man, but even the hardest men feel. I have my emotions, I just push them away. There's always something more important happening, and I never have time for them."

"How long will it take?" Angelina asked in a pleading tone.

"Depends on you," Mad-Eye said. "The sooner you recognise that you aren't a monster, the sooner it will get easier." There was a silence between the two of them, broken only by the faint echo of Hermione speaking an incantation.

"Thank you," Angelina said. Mad-Eye grunted.

"Don't tell anyone else," he said. "This was a one-off."

"Right," Angelina said with a smile. Mad-Eye grunted and turned away.

As Angelina exited the library, she almost bumped into Astoria.

"Sorry," she said with a laugh.

"It's fine," Astoria replied. "Actually, I've been wanting to talk to you for a few days."

"What's up?" Angelina asked, curious.

"I just wanted to thank you," Astoria replied. "For helping get me out. I know how bad it was for you there, so it does mean a lot."

"Not a problem," Angelina said. Astoria was studying her closely.

"You know that everything you did was the right thing, don't you?" Astoria asked.

"I'm beginning to warm up to that idea," Angelina admitted. "It just wasn't very pleasant."

"Killing them," Astoria said. She didn't need to say what she meant by "them". "No, I don't imagine it was. It's better that way. If it weren't for you, I might not have my soul. Half of this house might not."

"I suppose," Angelina said.

"Are you staying tonight?" Astoria asked suddenly. When Angelina nodded, Astoria smiled. "Well, Draco and I are cooking. Don't worry. I'm keeping him in hand. That being said, I have caught Kreacher fixing more than a few things since we started. You can thank him for you not getting food poisoning later." Angelina laughed.

"I might have to," she said.

Dinner that night was an enjoyable affair for the most part. Katie and Alicia had decided to join them, but had decided not to stay the night. Everyone was there except for Bill who, it seemed, had declined to dine with the group. Angelina gave her condolences to Ginny, who looked upset, yet didn't look defeated.

Despite their age difference, Matt and Teddy were already getting along quite well. Angelina was quite sure that it had something to do with Teddy inheriting his mother's Metamorphmagus ability. It amused Matt to no end when Teddy changed his hair colour. He was also getting slightly more proficient in other areas thanks to a book that Dennis had found. He could now slightly alter his nose and his ears to make him almost seem to be a different person.

Angelina found herself mostly talking with Luna and Dennis, who were seated close to her. They didn't really talk about much, mostly Luna's father's mythical creatures. Occasionally Hestia would ask her about Quidditch all those years ago, and Angelina regaled her with the best stories that she could think of, most of which involved Oliver Wood being overly into it and the twins bringing him down. It was the first time that Angelina felt she could talk about Fred without feeling any kind of sadness, and that felt good.

It came to nine-thirty and, true to his mother's word, Matt tried to trick her into letting him stay up a little bit longer. It didn't help that Draco was showing him more and more magic, so it made him want to stay up more. Eventually Angelina wore him down, and she showed him to the room he was staying in.

Not for the first time, Angelina marvelled at just how big Number Twelve was. By her count, they were occupying eleven rooms, and yet somehow there was just more space. There had to be at least twenty bedrooms, if not more, in the house. From what little Angelina knew about the Black family, this shouldn't have come as much of a surprise, and yet it still did.

Half an hour after she took him to his room, Angelina checked on Matt who was already sound asleep. She closed the door behind her and yawned, deciding right then that it was best for her to go to bed as well. She found the bedroom and saw the Dreamless Sleep potion bottle on the nightstand. She downed it in one gulp and fell onto the bed. After just a few minutes she was asleep and, for the first time since Azkaban, not dreaming.

Angelina was shaken awake a few hours later. She drowsily looked up to see Ginny, wild-eyed and breathing heavily.

"The Fogarty's are under attack," she breathed and in seconds, Angelina was on her feet. She summoned her shoes and slipped them on as fast as she could.

"Is there anyone there yet?" she asked quickly as she exited the room and almost ran to the stairs.

"Mad-Eye and Dedalus were leaving when I came to wake you," Ginny said. "They'll be there already. Maybe Bill too."

"Is Matt okay?" Angelina asked, worried.

"Sleeping," Hermione said as she appeared next to them suddenly.

"Don't wake him," Angelina said. "Not yet."

"Luna and Dennis are awake," Ginny said. "They're staying here with the kids."

"What about Draco and Astoria?" Angelina asked.

"They're asleep," Hermione said. "They wouldn't be coming with us regardless. Draco's Undesirable Number One, so they would take any chance to get him."

At that point, they reached the bottom of the stairs where they found Hestia.

"I'll take Hestia," Ginny said. "Everyone knows the way but her. Apparate as close as you can to the house. Be prepared to defend."

"Let's go," Angelina said anxiously and they all ran to the front door. When she took the first step out of the house, Angelina Disapparated, appearing moments later on the front lawn of the Fogarty's house.

The house was in ruins. Half of it was on fire, and the other half looked smashed to pieces. Above it floated the Dark Mark.

Angelina was alert for foes, but when she looked around, there were none. Bill came running up to her as she heard two pops close by.

"There were only a few of them," he explained breathlessly. Near the house, Angelina saw Mad-Eye and Dedalus trying to put out the flames. "We drove them all away. We think one of them was a Curse-Breaker because they were able to get around our spells just long enough to do all of this damage."

"Where are Wendy and Robert?" Angelina asked.

"I don't know," Bill said. That was enough for Angelina as she pointed her wand at her head and performed a Bubble-Head Charm. Before anyone could stop her, Angelina ran towards the house and through the section where the front door had been, entering into the smoke-ridden house.

She looked around her and found a way through into the next room, ducking under a wooden beam as she did so. She was now in the remains of the sitting room. The heat from the nearby flames were starting to get to her, but Angelina pressed on, squeezing through a gap into a hallway. As she ran down it, she saw something out of the corner of her eye in a room. She doubled back and recoiled at what she saw.

Wendy and Robert were lying on the floor of their bedroom in their nightclothes. She ran to them, ignoring the flames creeping around the room. She reached down to Wendy and checked for a pulse, as she had been taught to do years ago when becoming a teacher. There was nothing there. She checked Robert and found the same result.

Tears sprang to Angelina's eyes, but she stood up only to see that the flames were closing in on her. She turned to where she had come into the room, but that way was also barred by flames. The flames started to edge their way towards her just as Angelina had a horrific, sickening thought.

__She was pregnant__.


	34. Healing Wounds

**_**Disclaimer: **_**__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes.__

* * *

**_**Chapter 34**_**

**_**Healing Wounds**_**

"__The human race tends to remember the abuses to which it has been subjected rather than the endearments. What's left of kisses? Wounds, however, leave scars__."  
\- Bertolt Brecht

**_**Ginny Weasley**_**

**_**14**_****_**th **_****_**January, 2004**_**

The flames were all around her now, and Ginny was beginning to regret following Angelina into the house. Bill was with her and they were working on clearing a path through the fire to get to Angelina, who was reckless enough to run into a burning building. Ginny looked over her shoulder and saw Mad-Eye and Dedalus heading in behind them, wands held out in front of them. Ginny was suddenly pulled forward by Bill and she rushed through the opening into the flames.

Ginny looked into a room and, through the encroaching flames she saw Angelina and two bodies. Immediately, and without so much as a discussion, she and Bill doused the flames in water and ran through. Angelina was about to be engulfed in flames when they got to her.

"They're dead," Angelina mumbled as Ginny grabbed her shoulders.

"You need to get out now," Ginny said quickly. "Out the way you came. Mad-Eye and Dedalus are waiting, clearing a path."

Angelina seemed to snap out of her reverie and nodded quickly. As she left, Ginny turned to Bill who was already levitating one of the bodies. Ginny nodded and pointed her own wand at Wendy's body and it rose from the floor. She followed Bill out of the room, with Wendy behind her. Mad-Eye and Dedalus paid them no heed as they passed by until they were safely free of the burning house. Only then did the two men leave.

When they were all standing on the front lawn, all five dispelled their Bubble-Head Charms and looked back at the house. Ginny shook her head and fell to her knees beside Wendy. She pointed her wand at the woman in order to see if there was a pulse, and got no response. It was the same for Robert.

"We need to go now," Mad-Eye said gruffly. "We can't be seen here. Not after this."

"We'll take the bodies back to Number 12," Ginny said.

"We will do no such thing," Mad-Eye snapped. "Leave them here and let the Muggle authorities deal with it."

"We can't just leave them," Ginny said, getting to her feet.

"We can and we will," Mad-Eye replied.

"And what about Matt?" Ginny asked. "He's at Number Twelve. How do we explain why he wasn't with his own parents?"

"Johnson can tell the Police that she managed to get Matt out unscathed, but couldn't save his parents," Mad-Eye said immediately, his magical eye whizzing around in its socket.

"Matt isn't here," Ginny said.

"We'll bring him here then," Mad-Eye said with a shrug. "Easily done."

"We will not wake him up for this!" Ginny said angrily. "It's bad enough that we have to tell him we couldn't save his parents, but to wake him up, tell him and expect him to go along with our lie. That's insane."

"Use a Memory Charm," Mad-Eye said. "Make him believe it happened that way."

"Memory charms aren't the answer to everything!" Ginny screeched. "We are not going to involve Matt. We are not leaving. We will deal with what we have to deal with."

"I think you will find, girl, that I know a damn sight more about what to do in situations like this than you do," Mad-Eye growled. "You will do what I say."

"I will not," Ginny growled back at him. "It is _inhuman_. You might have dozens of years of experience, but that doesn't mean you have the right to do this to a ten year old boy. Your so-called 'experience' hasn't helped at all with Vol – You-Know-Who, has it now? Your 'experience' had you hiding and drinking Polyjuice Potion like a damn fish just so you could do your part to not even scratch the Ministry and his gloriousness, the Dark Lord. Or have you forgotten that it is only because of us that you have been able to do anything against them? Without us, you would have continued doing the same ineffectual things for the rest of your miserable existence until either you were caught and executed or you died fighting a war that you knew you could never win."

"You don't even know what war is," Mad-Eye said, his scarred face reddening.

"Oh, don't I?" Ginny screeched, flying at Mad-Eye and getting right into his face. "I don't have a fucking clue, is that right? No, you're right. It isn't like I have lost most of my fucking family along with the love of my life and, oh, the majority of the people I had ever known. I certainly wasn't there when the Great Hall and damn near everyone in it burned to a crisp. I wasn't there when the smell of burning flesh floated around Hogwarts. No, of course not. I'm just a girl, right? Not like you. You've lost an arm, a leg and an eye. And, the biggest loss for you, your wits. I'm surprised you've lasted this long with all of us without mistaking us for a Death Eater and brutally murdering us because of your deep paranoia.

"You don't get to tell me that I don't know what this war is, old man," Ginny said quietly. "Now, if you don't mind, I am going to help things go smoothly here. You can leave if you like. I'm sure you don't have any Polyjuice on you right now and we wouldn't want a Muggle policeman to be mistaken for a gust of wind or something."

Ginny and Mad-Eye stood staring at each other for a few moments before Dedalus came up beside them.

"Let them do it their way, Alastor," he said quietly.

Mad-Eye's one good eye looked at Dedalus before he scoffed. He turned on his heel and disappeared with a pop. Dedalus looked at Ginny with a questioning look.

"We are doing it this way," Ginny said firmly. Dedalus nodded.

"As you say," he replied. "Just try to be a little more diplomatic next time. I know better than anyone else how Alastor can be at times, but he can be reasoned with." Ginny sighed.

"I can try," she replied.

"Thank you," Dedalus said. "If you don't mind, I think I will follow Alastor back. He won't be in the best mood, so I think I should debrief everyone about what's going on."

"Tell them that we will be fine here," Bill said. "If we need someone else, we'll get them." Dedalus nodded and disappeared as well.

"Dedalus is right," Hestia said. "Alastor is difficult. Stubborn and so utterly convinced that his way is always the best way. But he can be reasoned with."

"I know, I just think I needed that," Ginny replied. "It felt good to just yell at someone for once."

"Bill, do you have your phone?" Angelina asked.

"I do," Bill said, handing it to her and Angelina immediately called someone. Ginny presumed it was the emergency people. "I'll just lift the Muggle Repelling Charm before they show up."

"How did they do this?" Hermione asked suddenly. "We should have known the moment they arrived, but this all happened before we knew it."

"A Curse-Breaker, most likely," Hestia replied. "Got the wards down for long enough to get in, do the damage and then leave."

"Why did we get signalled, though?" Hermione asked.

"They probably wanted us to come here," Hestia suggested.

"Then where are they?" Ginny asked. "They would have attacked us by now."

"It was a warning!" Hermione said, wide-eyed. "They did this to send us a warning. Charlie probably told them about Wendy, Robert and Matt and they attacked just to get to us."

"They killed two people just to send a message?" Ginny said breathlessly. "That certainly __sounds __like them."

"Three actually," Angelina said, coming over to join them. "Mary was pregnant."

A silence fell over the four of them after that that was only broken by Bill coming over to inform them that the charm was lifted.

"I can't do anything about the Dark Mark though," he said. "The Muggles will just write it off as something or other. Are they on the way?"

"They'll be here very soon," Angelina confirmed. Tears were flowing down her face and Ginny reached out an arm to her. Angelina hugged her and started to sob.

A few minutes later a police car, a fire truck and an ambulance arrived in quick succession, and Angelina was made to give information about the events to the police as Mary and Robert's bodies were taken away in the ambulance.

"I live just down the street and I'm also their son's teacher," Angelina explained tearily. The policeman nodded. "The others, well, the redheads are family friends and they were staying at my place tonight. I think the other two women were passing by."

"We had a hen night," Hermione explained. "We were just walking past when we saw this happening."

"I see," the policeman said. "The son. What do you know about him?"

"Matt was staying at a friends' house," Angelina said quickly.

"How do you know that?" the policeman asked.

"I'm their teacher," Angelina explained. "I overheard them talking about it today."

"Right," the policeman responded. "And do you know where I could find him?"

"Do you really think that's necessary?" Angelina asked quickly. "I mean, it will be bad enough that he will have to be told. Shouldn't it come from someone he trusts?"

"You, you mean?"

"Yes," Angelina replied. "I'm not just his teacher, I'm also a friend of his parents'. He doesn't have anyone else."

"There is no close family?" the policeman asked.

"No, I'm afraid not," Angelina replied. "Robert's mother died a few years ago, and his father has dementia. Wendy's mother hasn't been seen by her in fifteen years, and her father was killed in action. Neither of them had any brothers or sisters."

"What about other close friends?" the policeman asked, noting something down.

"I don't really know," Angelina said. "They have never really mentioned anyone." The policeman sighed.

"In that case, I think it best if you do tell him," he said. "We won't need to see him about this, but I think we may need to talk to all of you if it turns out that this was deliberate."

"What happens to Matt?" Angelina asked. Ginny silently cast a suggestion charm on the policeman.

"Well, I suppose until it can be made official through the courts, he should stay with you," he said, his eyes slightly glazed over. "A family friend and his teacher should be sufficient for the moment."

"Thank you, officer," Angelina said, relieved. "We should let you get right to it."

"Yes, thank you for your help," the policeman said. He then took information down about all of them, before looking back towards Angelina. "I will contact you as soon as I can with the court date. As for the rest of you, I have your numbers should I need to get in touch."

"Any time," Ginny said with a smile. The man nodded and walked away. "Couldn't we just take him and not worry about court proceedings?"

"This isn't the same as it was for Teddy, I'm afraid," Bill replied. "Not many people knew that Teddy was living with Dennis' parents, so it was easy to bring him with us. Matt will have people who know him. Plus, Teddy had the added bonus of not living with his own family."

"How long will it take?" Angelina asked.

"That depends," Hermione replied. "Since Matt has no living relatives they will likely speed up the process. Tomorrow. The next day possibly. It could take a week, however. It's likely they will do it before the week is out."

"We should probably be getting back," Hestia said after a moment.

"How are we going to tell him?" Angelina asked.

"Wait until he wakes up," Bill said. "Better to let him sleep for now. He may not sleep well for a while."

Angelina nodded silently.

As the others started to walk away, Ginny took one last look at what remained of the house. The Muggle police were nearby, looking the place over. The last of the fires had been put out and it looked as though the police were waiting for the smoke to die down before they ventured inside. The ambulance was gone, and the firemen were still around, assisting the police where possible. Ginny looked up and saw the last vestige of the Dark Mark hanging in the sky. It was slowly dissipating away into the clouds, leaving only the slightest trace that it had ever been there before. Once more Ginny looked back down before turning and walking away.

When Ginny got back to Number Twelve, she came across Bill and Hestia telling Dennis and Luna about what had happened.

"Mad-Eye here?" Ginny asked.

"We haven't seen him," Dennis said.

"He's probably at his own hideout," Bill suggested. "Leave him be for now, Gin. He'll calm down."

"What happened?" Dennis asked.

"Ginny and Mad-Eye had a row," Hestia said. "Mad-Eye was being unreasonably cold. Nonetheless, it'll blow over."

"How did they know where the Fogarty's lived?" Luna asked. "Charlie, I suppose."

"It seems so," Bill said, suddenly devoid of any emotion.

"Did Charlie ever visit your place?" Ginny asked Dennis suddenly. "Or did you tell him where it was?"

"I don't think so," Dennis replied. "He's never been there, but I might have mentioned where I was studying. Nothing more than that."

"They're doing this to taunt us," Bill said, with a hint of a growl in his voice. "They can't get us, so they're doing the next best thing."

"Why didn't they attack the girls' house?" Hestia asked. "Charlie knew where that is, and that would have been the best place to attack."

"As I said, they're taunting us," Bill said. "Probably decided that the Muggles were best to attack because they're close to us."

"Someone should go and get Katie and Alicia," Ginny suggested. "It may be that it's just taunting, but if they decide to also attack their house, everyone should be well clear."

"I'll go," Hestia said. "If I'm not back in ten minutes, send someone after me."

"Of course," Bill said. Hestia nodded and left through the fireplace.

"Is there anyone else they could attack to get at us?" Dennis asked.

"I don't think so," Ginny replied. "Nobody else has anyone anymore."

"What about my aunt?" Dennis asked.

"Doubtful," Bill replied. "Charlie didn't know anything about her except that she is related to you. They won't go looking for her."

"They could go after Sam and Pat though," Dennis pointed out. "If Charlie knows my University and their names it wouldn't be difficult to find them."

"Not today," Ginny replied. "It will take some time for them to find things out the Muggle way. Hermione finished the jewellery earlier, so we can give it to them tomorrow. If anything should happen to them, we won't be caught out like we were this time."

Dennis looked unsure, but nodded.

Ginny walked over to the couch where Angelina was seated next to Hermione. Ginny took the seat next to her. As soon as she sat down, Angelina turned to her and started to sob into her shoulder. She cried for a few minutes until a creaking noise came from the stairs.

"What's going on?" Matt asked drowsily.

"Oh, God," Angelina said. "I can't do this. Not now."

"It's alright," Ginny whispered. "I'll tell him. Matt, can you come here please?"

"Why are you crying?" he asked Angelina, who just shook her head. Ginny reached out and held Matt's hands.

"Your house was attacked," she said after a moment, and Matt's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, but your Mum and Dad didn't make it."

"What?" Matt asked as he seemed to freeze. Ginny felt herself tearing up.

"We didn't get there in time," she said quietly. "We're so so sorry."

"No," Matt said, tears coming to his eyes. "No, it's not true."

"I'm sorry," Ginny said quietly. Out of nowhere, Luna appeared and was on her knees next to Matt. He reached out for her and started sobbing into her shoulder.

"Thank you," Angelina whispered through tears. Ginny just nodded. After a few minutes, Matt left Luna and leapt onto Angelina and clung to her, sobbing into her shoulder as she struggled to keep back her own tears.

Several hours later Ginny was still wide awake, but Matt was sleeping once more. Angelina was sitting with him while he slept, and Ginny was talking with the rest downstairs.

"Angelina has already offered to become Matt's legal guardian," Hermione explained. "We don't know when this will be, but it's likely to be soon."

"We'll have to stay here now, won't we?" Katie asked.

"That seems safest," Bill replied. "They knew where Wendy and Robert were, so it's very likely they know where you are as well. As long as you're here, they can't get you."

"This is really happening," Alicia said.

"What do you mean?" Bill asked.

"This," Alicia said. "Our rebellion. Before now it was somewhat limited, but now we're all pretty much being forced into taking this on full-time."

"That has always been the plan," Draco pointed out. "It's coming along a lot quicker than we had intended, but it was always going to reach this point."

"It's why we're all together," Astoria said.

"So, we really should be planning our next move," a sudden voice came from the door. Mad-Eye stood there, having appeared almost out of nowhere.

"Where have you been?" Hestia asked.

"Cooling down," Dedalus said, coming into sight.

"Sulking more like," Hestia said with a scoff. Both of Mad-Eye's eyes found Ginny.

"Come and talk with me," he said gruffly. Ginny took a breath and stood up.

"I'll be back," she told the rest of the group. Mad-Eye was in the next room when Ginny looked to where he had been. "Yes?"

"I've been told I was insensitive," Mad-Eye said.

"Yes, you were," Ginny said.

"I've been at this a very long time, and I know how things should be done," Mad-Eye said, his magical eye swivelling around. "My way has worked for me and countless others in the past. That being said, Dedalus has tried his best to drill it into me that my way is not always the best way. Especially when it comes to emotions."

"I get that," Ginny said with a sigh. "Sometimes we have to do the right thing. It might not always be the most logical thing to do, nor is it always the smartest. But when it comes to people we know and care about being in danger, we need to act. Trust me, we all appreciate your skills. Clearly they have worked for a long time, otherwise you wouldn't be here talking to me right now. But this isn't the Order of the Phoenix. There isn't just one person calling the shots. Not one of us can claim to be like Dumbledore, so we need to work together otherwise we might as well just let You-Know-Who win right now."

"I'll try," Mad-Eye grunted. "That's all I'm promising. But if any of you come up with a bloody idiotic plan, I'm going to point it out."

"By all means," Ginny replied. "Just don't dismiss our plans out of hand right away." Mad-Eye nodded and turned to walk back to where everyone else was.

"Can someone fill me in?" Mad-Eye asked. Hermione nodded and Mad-Eye stood near her as the rest of the room dissipated. Ginny was approached by Dennis, with Fawkes sitting on his shoulder.

"You doing okay?" Ginny asked.

"I'm actually alright," he replied, scratching Fawkes on the neck. "Teddy's getting happier, Fawkes and I are bonding well and I'm surrounded by caring people. I don't like how I got to this point, but I'm happy with what it is. What about you? It can't have been pleasant last night."

"No, I suppose it wasn't," Ginny replied. "There comes a point, though, when nothing seems to frighten you anymore. I don't know when it was, really, that it happened for me. I've felt less and less scared of the world every year since the Battle of Hogwarts. I think the Healing stuff has something to do with it. Knowing that I can fix almost anything that happens to anyone, it feels … empowering. Like I've taken control.

"Last night … it was terrible, don't get me wrong. They didn't deserve that. But I don't think it has bothered me as much as it probably should. In a short period of time I've lost Fleur and Charlie, two of the people most important to me. I was destroyed when Fleur died. But Charlie. I feel bad for not feeling as sad as Bill. I should have some kind of emotional breakdown, but instead I'm just … carrying on. I loved Charlie, and the pain of losing him was immense, but it's almost as if I'm getting used to it. I long for the day that I am no longer used to it and I can feel the full force of the pain that I should already be feeling.

"Listen to me," Ginny said with a laugh. "You don't want to hear all of this."

"I don't mind, really," Dennis said with a smile. "I'm a good listener, or so I've been told."

"Certainly more so than Colin was," Ginny said and both she and Dennis laughed. "I remember a day where Colin was talking to me for ten straight minutes, and I didn't get a single word in."

"Oh, I know that feeling," Dennis said with a laugh. "You weren't really close with Colin, though."

"No, I suppose not," Ginny replied. "My First Year was a bit … shall we say … rocky. When I came back for my Second Year, I kept to myself. So did Colin, really. It's a shame. Before the Diary, I really liked Colin."

"I'm glad," Dennis said. "I wish he had known that. I've learned these last few months that my big brother was very lonely at Hogwarts. You know when he was Petrified, he was going to apologise to Harry for how he had acted towards him? No one knew that. They all just assumed it was the Potter fan being a Potter fan."

"I'm sorry," Ginny said. "If I had known, I would have tried harder."

"It's not your fault," Dennis replied. "Colin learned to live with the role he was given. Until he was killed, of course."

"He shouldn't have died," Ginny said. She wasn't entirely sure what to say. "This war has taken too much of a toll."

"Yes, it has," Dennis agreed. "The latest casualties were just a few hours ago, but outside of us nobody will ever know that their lives were lost. Or even who they were and why they were important. There's a war raging and no one even knows. Either they think it's over, or they're ignorant of the fact that it's even going. Sometimes it feels pointless."

"We have to do what little we can," Ginny replied. "We're all that's left, and Matt needs us. This war won't be over until every last one of us is dead."

The two stood in silence for half a minute before Dennis spoke up once more.

"The war is already over," Dennis said quietly. "To everyone who matters it is. It's been five years since there was even so much as a skirmish and the Death Eaters have established themselves as the rulers now. What we did to the Ministry the other day was good. But let's not kid ourselves here. We're not the foot soldiers in a righteous war. We're rebels who fear to even leave their own house because it could mean the end of us if we do."

"You make it sound like we're the bad guys," Ginny said, her eyebrows raised.

"We are to them," Dennis said evenly. "It doesn't seem to be as clear cut as it was when the Death Eaters re-emerged. Back then, it was clear that they needed to be defeated because they were simply immoral and, I hesitate to use the word, evil. Now, we can't be sure that all of those on their side are of those beliefs. Some of them will have gone along with it all just to ensure that they live. Not all of the people on their side will be bad guys." Ginny's mind went, unbidden, to Terrence Higgs.

"That may be true now," Ginny said. "But when we start really hurting the Ministry others will flock to us."

"They will flock to whoever they think will win," Dennis replied. "Have you seen this place lately? We're the broken remnants of a war that no one even thinks is still going on. We don't have the strength to protect one family. The Fogarty's were targeted out of a lust for revenge and violence, but it also showed how little we can do. Look at us. Other than you, Hermione, Bill, Mad-Eye, Hestia and Dedalus, we don't have any proficient fighters. Luna is many things, but I can't think of her as a fighter. I'm not trained enough, and Angelina, Alicia and Katie are out of practise. Draco and Astoria might be good at a pinch, but they haven't been preparing for this like you guys have. We also now have four kids to protect, one of which is still a baby. The Ministry has the entire strength supplied by the Death Eaters and the Aurors. I know which side is likely to win."

"You don't think we have a chance?" Ginny asked. "We got the Elder Wand away from You-Know-Who. Azkaban is gone and the Dementors out of the power of the Death Eaters. They can no longer kill innocent Muggle-borns."

"Of course we have a chance," Dennis replied with a half-smile. "As I said, what we did to them the other day was quite a blow. But it's nothing that they cannot come back from. We ignited a new war that day and for the best of reasons. That doesn't change the fact that there'll be more deaths like Colin's along the way because of that. Colin wasn't supposed to be fighting that day when he died. He might have been sixteen, but he was still too young. I will not see Teddy or Matt die as he did. In fact, if I had my way I would not see anyone at all die. I know that's an idealistic view to take on the situation, and I know full well that it will never happen that way, but that's just me. I won't kill, but I might give my life if it means that another situation like Colin's death doesn't occur."

As Dennis stopped speaking, Fawkes spread his wings, sending slight red wisps into the air which seemed to flame up quickly and then fade away, and trilled loudly. Ginny looked at the bird for a moment, and then back at Dennis who was looking at her with an odd look on his face. Ginny had expected to see a hardened look, even something slightly sinister. Instead, she saw kindness in his blue eyes. A kindness that transcended the concern and sadness that the rest of his face betrayed. That was until Fawkes trilled again and he smiled. Not broadly, but it was enough.

"You've given this a lot of thought," Ginny said finally.

"I've had to," Dennis replied, reaching up and scratching Fawkes. "I'm responsible for Teddy now. I never thought that would happen at my age, and yet there it is. I'm basically in charge of his life. And he is being targeted to be executed. That tends to make you think."

"I've seen you with Teddy," Ginny said with a smile. "There's no one better to be looking after him."

"There might have been," Dennis said. "But that doesn't need to be thought about right now. If you don't mind, I think I'll go and check up on him."

"Of course," Ginny said. "I was going to find Bill anyway."

Ginny watched as Dennis walked away. She wasn't quite sure what to make of him. When he had first burst into their lives almost a fortnight before, she had felt that he may be of no help to them and their cause. Now she thought something entirely different. She had seen him as Colin Creevey, and yet now she knew that he was not like Colin. Certainly, Colin had been loyal to a fault, and it seemed as though Dennis was that as well. But Colin had hidden his unhappiness behind a façade of boisterousness and smiles. Dennis wasn't like that. In fact, he reminded her a bit of Harry.

Ginny found Bill in the kitchen pouring himself a glass of scotch.

"You want a drink, Gin?" Bill asked.

"Go on," Ginny replied with a smile. "But no Gin, thanks. Hate the stuff." Bill laughed with her.

"I saw you talking with Dennis," Bill said as he poured and handed her a glass. "Anything interesting?"

"A lot, but it's too much to tell you all of it, I'm afraid," Ginny replied, looking at her drink and swirling it in the glass. "He reminds me a bit of Harry, actually."

"Really?" Bill asked with a bit of surprise in his tone. "Why's that?"

"I don't know," Ginny said. "It was just what he said and the way he said it. It was something Harry might have said. You know how he was."

"I suppose I do, but you know better than me," Bill replied. "I take it that means we can rely on him?"

"We always could," Ginny said. "Now we know for sure."

"Since he reminds you of Harry, should I be worried?" Bill asked with a smirk. Ginny smacked him on the arm.

"No, not Dennis," Ginny said, laughing. "And no more of that protective brother nonsense. You know that if I do end up with someone, they'll be worthy of me. I wouldn't allow it any other way."

"Ah, you're right of course," Bill said. "I was just having a bit of a joke."

Ginny and Bill both took a drink.

"How are you doing?" Ginny asked.

"I'm feeling better," Bill said. "Not great, obviously, but I think what happened earlier was good for me. I can't mope around all my life. Charlie knew what he was getting into and he knew the risks. If it had been me, I would hate for anyone to mope around on my behalf. Charlie likely felt the same way."

"Yes, I think he would have," Ginny replied, raising her glass. "To our beloved brother. Let us hope that he is happier now than he has been these past years."

"And to the rest of our family," Bill continued. "And to Wendy, Robert and their unborn child. To all those who have gone before us, and to those who will go after us."

Ginny and Bill clinked glasses and both downed the remainder left in one quick gulp.


	35. Divorce Proceedings

**_**Disclaimer: **_**__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes.__

* * *

**_**Chapter 35**_**

**_**Divorce Proceedings**_**

"__It's a basic truth of the human condition that everybody lies. The only variable is about what.__"  
\- Dr. Gregory House ("House, M.D." Season 1 Episode 21)

**_**Justin Finch-Fletchley**_**

**_**15**_****_**th **_****_**January, 2004**_**

Justin was awoken roughly by Susan around midday.

"You need to see this," she said, as Justin sat, blurry-eyed, looking at her. She was holding out an envelope. "Yes, I let myself in. You sleep in too late. Get up earlier and this wouldn't be a problem."

"What's this?" Justin asked, taking the envelope.

"An owl showed up a minute ago," Susan explained. "It disappeared as soon as I took the letter from it."

Justin turned the letter over and saw a plain black seal. Knowing that it could not possibly be good news, he opened the envelope and took out the parchment inside.

__Justin,__

__I am sending this to you care of my father. Don't worry, he will be discreet and he has no idea where you live.__

__I was informed today that Zacharias and I will be involved in the same divorce proceedings. I don't know exactly what they are playing at, but I will try my best to get both myself and him through this.__

__The proceedings start at 1pm at Courtroom Ten.__

__D.G.__

"What does it say?" Susan asked, and Justin handed her the letter. "I see. Well, I suppose we'll find out what happens at some point today."

"Screw that," Justin said, getting out of bed and to his feet. "I'm going to have a shower and then I'm going straight to the Ministry."

"How do you plan to do that?" Susan asked. "We talked about the Invisibility Cloak. It's not infallible you know."

"I know, but I have to do something," Justin replied. "Obviously I can't go through the visitor's entrance, but if I enter through the normal entrance and get the cloak on as soon as I can, I may just avoid issues."

"You keep saying 'I' as if only you will be going," Susan said with a weak smile. "If you go, I go."

"If we get caught –" Justin said, but was cut off.

"If you get caught alone, I'll be alone again," Susan said evenly. "I would prefer to be caught with you if I'm being honest."

"Okay, fine," Justin said, pacing. "We'll both go. Can you alter your hair colour a bit at least? For a little while. It's your main identifiable feature."

"I'm not sure whether I should be offended or not," Susan replied. "But I see your point. Any particular colour you think?"

"Brown," Justin replied after a moment. "Seems to be common enough."

"I'll do that before we leave," Susan said. "Go and have your shower." Justin nodded and almost ran to the bathroom. When he was finished, he found Susan in the kitchen.

"It's ten past twelve," she said quickly. "We'll want to go now."

"What about cloaks?" Justin asked. "I've got one in my cupboard, but what about you?"

"I can transfigure my jacket," Susan replied. "It won't last long, but either way we shouldn't need it to. Either we'll be found and it won't matter or we'll remain hidden the whole time."

"You think this is stupid don't you?" Justin asked as they walked back to his bedroom.

"I do," Susan said. "But I understand why you're doing it. "This smells like more than a divorce."

"Exactly," Justin replied.

"We can't do anything if something bad happens," Susan said quietly as Justin grabbed his cloak. "We'll have to let it play out."

"I know," Justin said sadly, putting the cloak on. "I just need to know."

Moments later they were in Justin's backyard. Justin grasped Susan's arm and she turned on the spot. Immediately they were somewhere Justin had never seen before.

"Aunt Amelia often brought me to the Ministry," Susan said. "I know where to go to be discreet. Hold on, I need to fix my hair."

Susan pointed her wand at her head, thought for a moment and, without talking, her hair turned slowly from red to a deep brown and put it into a ponytail. If they weren't as good friends as they were, Justin might have mistaken Susan for someone else.

"How long will that last?" he asked when Susan put away her wand.

"When a woman changes her hairstyle, you really should compliment her on it," Susan said with a smirk. "It should last about half an hour. Long enough to get us into the Ministry and the Cloak over our head." She then pointed her wand at her shoes, muttered an incantation and did the same to Justin's. The two then linked arms and walked out of the alleyway together, not a single footstep being heard.

"What are they planning?" Justin asked aloud.

"Who knows?" Susan said with a shrug. "Zach did say that they were suspects in the attack on the Ministry. It could have something to do with that."

"They couldn't have proof of that," Justin said. "Zach was never involved."

"And neither was Daphne if she's to be believed," Susan replied. "Since when have Death Eaters needed proof of these things?" Justin swallowed.

"If that ends up being what this is about, what will happen?" Justin asked, his voice low.

"You know what will happen," Susan replied. "Without Azkaban, the punishment will be execution. If that happens, I'm sorry but we can't do anything about it."

"I won't stand by and let them execute Zach and Daphne," Justin growled. "I just won't."

"Yes, by all means try to be the hero," Susan replied. "You can just get yourself killed as well. You know Zach well enough to know that he wouldn't want that. Besides, we don't even know this for certain. How about we stop thinking about it, and just worry about it __if __it happens."

Justin said nothing else and walked forward with Susan.

"We're going to have to split up here, I'm afraid," Susan said as they approached some public toilets. "When you flush yourself down, head to the right. That's away from the Atrium. I'll find you."

"Do we really have to flush ourselves in?" Justin asked. "I thought you were joking."

"Nope, that's what you have to do," Susan replied. "Aunt Amelia said it's the Ministry's way of keeping their workers humble. It doesn't really work that way. The ones who need to be kept humble never bothered with this."

"Why did your Aunt need this way anyway?" Justin asked.

"She wasn't always so high-ranking," Susan explained. "Most days she preferred this entrance anyway. To show that she was no different from the 'common worker' as she said."

"I see," Justin said. Susan quickly showed him where he had to go, and went off by herself. Justin found the toilets deserted, and entered into one of the stalls. Without a second thought, he stepped into the bowl, raised the hood on his cloak and flushed.

He whirled around for a moment, but soon he was standing somewhere in the Ministry of Magic. He had never been to the Ministry even once, and so the place seemed foreign to him. He didn't have time to look around at the world he had avoided for five years and simply turned and walked right.

He walked forward as far as he could until there seemed to be a hallway opening in front of him, so he stopped and waited for Susan. There were not many people populating the area he was in and no one seemed to pay him any mind. He saw a few paper planes fly by, but ignored them, scanning the area for Susan. He saw her heading towards him after a minute and he walked to meet her.

"Around here," Susan said quietly and led Justin by the arm towards a hallway off of the room they were in. No one was around, so Susan pulled out the Invisibility Cloak and quickly covered both of them with it.

They had tried this when Susan had suggested the Cloak as their advantage over others. As long as they walked close together the cloak covered them completely.

"Where do we go?" Justin whispered.

"Just follow my lead," Susan whispered back and began walking. "And don't talk unless absolutely necessary. It may hide us, but they can still hear."

Justin was quiet from that moment as Susan pulled him along in the right direction. As much as he would have liked to, Justin didn't have the time to look around at the rooms they found themselves in. The Ministry had always been something of an enigma to him and, he assumed, to many other Muggle-borns as well. Ever since he had been informed of the existence of the sub-culture within Britain he had known about the Ministry and what it did, and yet he had never been to the actual place itself, and given the number of people who worked there it seemed odd that this was the case. Many years ago he would have given anything to see the Ministry. Now he was there and he could barely see anything and also had something far more important to do.

Soon Susan pulled him towards an empty lift. When they got in they waited for a moment. When nothing was happening, Justin was about to speak up, but there was a cough and then a voice came from nowhere.

"__Where do you need to be?__" the voice asked in a smooth monotone.

"The Courtrooms," Susan said quietly. The doors of the lift clanged shut and it began to move. "There used to be attendants. I suppose You-Know-Who got rid of them."

"Do you know how to get to Courtroom Ten?" Justin asked quickly.

"Afraid not," Susan admitted. "We'll find it, though."

The lift stopped suddenly and Justin almost fell backwards. He regained his footing and adjusted the Invisibility Cloak back into place.

"This way," Susan whispered.

There was only one possible way for them to go and that was forward. The hallway stretched ahead of them, the walls made almost entirely of black stone with torches hanging in sconces along the wall here and there. As they walked quickly down the hallway, they found the entrance to Courtroom One leading off to the left. On the opposite side was the entrance to Courtroom Seven. The next one on the left was Courtroom Three and the opposite was Courtroom Five. They finally found Courtroom Ten at the next set of entrances opposite Courtroom Six. They turned right and found that there was a spiral staircase descending into the depths of the Ministry.

The stairs seemed to go down forever until they finally stepped off the final stair and into what appeared to be an enlarged alcove where they saw several people standing.

Immediately Justin's eyes were drawn to Zach who he could see standing with his parents. His parents did not look happy in the slightest. In fact, irate was the best way to describe the looks on their faces. This did not entirely surprise Justin as they had worked long and hard to get the marriage contract between Zach and Pansy done only to have it undone in a short amount of time.

Opposite the Smiths stood Daphne Greengrass with her parents who looked much more supportive. While Zach appeared to be looking at Daphne, she did not spare him even a single glance.

"We'll follow them in," Susan whispered. "We'll stay out of the way, but near the door. We need to be able to get out first."

Justin said nothing and continued watching Zach in silence.

"You can't go to him," Susan whispered. "I know you want to, but not while they're there."

"I know," Justin whispered back sadly. "Also if we spoke to him, he would wonder how we knew it was this specific time and place."

The two stood in silence for a few minutes until someone came along to take Zach and Daphne's parents into the courtroom, leaving the two seemingly alone. Susan started walking forward, so Justin walked with her. Eventually they reached a point within reach of Zach and Daphne. Justin had to try extremely hard not to reach out and touch Zach just to let him know that they were there with him.

Daphne finally looked at Zach.

"How are you doing?" she asked flatly.

"Should we really be talking?" Zach asked.

"What does it matter?" Daphne replied with a shrug. "You and I both know that we're innocent. We've never had an affair together."

"No," Zach agreed. "But that doesn't mean you haven't been aiding rebels."

"Oh, to be sure," Daphne replied with a smirk. "I can say the same of you as well. If it helps you, I had nothing to do with the attack."

"Me neither," Zach replied with a sceptical look. "That doesn't matter, though. It's not each other we have to convince."

"Very true," Daphne said. "It's up to the Ministry now. There should really be no cause for concern. When have they ever been wrong about anything?"

Zach looked at Daphne with an intrigued look. Just as he was about to respond, the doors to the courtroom opened and two men in black robes exited, each grabbing one of the two and walking them inside. Justin and Susan were followed close behind and just managed to get through the doors before they closed with a thud.

The room that they entered into was like an enlarged version of the hallway they had exited. The walls appeared to have been made of the same dark stone and all around there were torches lighting the room as best they could. It was still dark in places, and the light was not very bright. Ahead were two wooden chairs which Daphne and Zach were forced to sit in. In the surrounding stands there were at least fifty people seated, most of which wore scarlet robes. The room was buzzing when they entered the room, but almost the very moment that Zach and Daphne were seated the noise ceased and all eyes were on the two sitting alone.

"High Inquisitor Joan Richardson presiding over these events," a voice called from somewhere, but Justin did not see who spoke. The woman seated at the very middle of the stand in front of Zach and Daphne stood up.

Joan Richardson was robed in scarlet, as most of the room was, and stood with her wand lazily held in her right hand. She appeared to be well into her forties had an aquiline face, with long blonde hair streaming down well past her shoulders. She looked down with undisguised disdain at the two people in front of her, and Justin thought that he caught the hint of a smile creep onto her face for just a moment before she began to talk.

"We are here today to bear witness to the Divorce Proceedings of two prominent Pureblood marriages," she began. Justin was somewhat surprised to hear an American accent when she spoke. Over the years Justin had watched a great deal of American television, and to his ears she would be from somewhere around Chicago. "Blaise and Daphne Zabini were married September 17th, 2001. Zacharias and Pansy Smith were married November 19th, 2003. Zacharias Smith and Daphne Zabini have been accused, by their respective spouses, of having an affair, thus tarnishing their marriage vows.

"Furthermore, Zacharias Smith and Daphne Zabini are accused of aiding rebels in the attack on Magical Britain on the sixth of this month. The penalty for this charge prior to the events of that day would be Azkaban for life, but due to the new circumstances if Smith and Zabini are found guilty, they will be publicly executed."

"Don't we get some kind of legal representation?" Daphne called out suddenly.

"You were not given leave to speak," Richardson snapped. "Speak only when you are spoken to, understood, girl?"

"If you say so," Daphne said. "I stand by my question, however. Do we get legal representation?"

"Under normal circumstances," Richardson said through gritted teeth, "you would find one yourself. As neither of you have been able to do so, the Ministry contacted several possible representatives, all of whom declined. I'm afraid you are on your own for this."

"So be it," Daphne said.

"We shall begin with the divorce proceedings," Richardson said, sitting down and shuffling papers on the desk in front of her. "You are both accused of infidelity to your respective spouses. Do you deny these allegations?"

"Of course," Daphne said.

"Yes," Zach replied in a meeker tone than Daphne had used.

"How unfortunate," Richardson said. "If you had told the truth this farce would have been played out."

There was laughter around the courtroom and Justin knew. __They're going to be convicted on all counts no matter what__, he thought to himself as all hope left him.

"First I shall call Blaise Zabini as a witness," Richardson said as the laughter died down. Justin watched as Zabini rose from his place in the wings and walked to a spot next to Richardson where he promptly sat down, a self-satisfied look on his face. "Under normal circumstances witnesses would not be needed. However it appears as though some people do not wish to speed things along.

"Mr Zabini, you were the first person to file for divorce, were you not?" Richardson asked.

"I was," Zabini said, looking at Richardson with an obviously fake pained look.

"Why was this?" Richardson asked in a quiet, compassionate voice.

"I caught the two of them," Zabini said. __He actually looks like he's going to cry__, Justin thought incredulously. "At the time, I just walked away. When I confronted Daph later that day, she denied everything. But I knew. I knew what she did."

"It was definitely your wife and Mr Smith?" Richardson asked. Zabini nodded as two tears trickled from his eyes. "When did you see this?"

"It was the fourth," Zabini said. "No, wait. The fifth. The day before the attack."

"What were they doing?" Richardson asked. Zabini wiped the tears from his face.

"They were having sex in my own bed," he said quietly, though somehow the whole courtroom could hear his words. The courtroom tsked at that.

"I know it must be painful, but would you be able to show us your memory of the event in question?" Richardson asked, drawing out what Justin guessed was a Pensieve. Zabini nodded and put his wand to his head almost immediately. He drew out a white, wispy thing which he placed into the proffered bowl. Richardson then turned to Daphne and Zach, seeming to expect an outburst. "Do neither of you object to the court viewing this?"

"It never happened," Daphne replied coolly. "How could I feel embarrassed about something that never happened and, therefore, my __dear __husband could not have seen?"

"You seem confident," Richardson commented venomously. "Overconfidence betrays guilt as much as underconfidence does."

"You seem confident too, High Inquisitor," Daphne said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Like you __know __how this is going to go. It could not possibly be that way, though. I mean, the Ministry are behind it. It must be fair, mustn't it?"

"Of course," Richardson replied. "Our Ministry is built on fairness for all. Within reason."

"Oh, yes," Daphne replied. "We have all benefited from the fairness of this Ministry, without whom I might never have married the love of my life, Blaise."

"An interesting turn of phrase for one accused of infidelity," Richardson replied as Zabini opened his mouth, but said nothing.

"As I said, it is simply not true," Daphne said. "I don't know Smith at all. I don't fuck men I don't know."

"Keep that sort of language to yourself," Richardson snapped. "I will not tolerate such foulness in this courtroom."

"Whatever you say, High Inquisitor," Daphne replied. "I'll keep my language to myself henceforth. Go on then. I want to see me and Smith go at it!"

Richardson shot Daphne a glare as a small amount of laughter came from around the room, though it died out quickly enough. A small man came towards the Pensieve and pointed his wand at it and muttered something under his breath. When he finished, a scene floated into the air like a cinema screen and the room fell silent.

In the air, Zabini was walking in what must have been his house, when he stopped. At that moment moaning could be heard from within the house. At the same time, the edges of the picture became somewhat unfocused and blurry. As Zabini walked through the house, his steps seemed to be too quick at times and too slow at others. When he finally turned to a door, the moaning got louder. Zabini pushed open the door and, for a moment, nothing could be seen but black smoke. Quickly, however, the smoke dissipated to reveal a compromising scene in which both Daphne's and Zach's faces could be seen. There was a sharp intake of breath from Zabini in the memory and mumbling in the courtroom as memory-Zabini shut the door quickly. The memory then dissipated.

The mumbling in the room continued as Zabini was offered the Pensieve and took his memory out and put it back into his own head. After some time, the mumbling died down.

"Well, that was clearly a fake," Daphne said. "Fake memories tend to act up, just as that one did."

"I don't believe I gave you leave to speak," Richardson snapped. "The memory was somewhat stilted and, at times, unfocused simply because of the trauma associated with it. I think I know more about the way a Pensieve works than you do, Mrs Zabini."

"I'm sure you do," Daphne agreed. "But that was bullshit. That's a false mem–"

"__Silencio__!" Richardson screamed and Daphne fell silent. She then slumped back into her chair, shrugging. "It is clear to all of us that the defendants were, indeed, having an affair."

"It is not clear!" Zach said loudly. "That was a fake. Give me Veritaserum and I'll give you the truth of it."

"You are out of line," Richardson said. "And we cannot use Veritaserum in a trial as it is fallible and can be worked around."

"So can memories, as you saw right there," Zach said quickly. "Memories aren't allowed to be used in court."

"An antiquated law," Richardson said, smirking. "Why, just this very morning the Dark Lord declared that memories can be used in such settings. Do you seek to undermine the authority of our leader?"

Zach fell silent and Richardson's smirk grew larger.

"No, I did not think so," she said, before turning back to Zabini. "Did you have any kind of inkling that your wife was being at all unfaithful to you?"

"For as long as I can remember," Zabini said. "Well, in the beginning of our marriage I thought that she loved me, but as time went on she slowly became less and less interested in me. Around six months in, I began to get concerned that she was hiding something from me, but I could never find any proof."

"So this has been going on for almost two years?" Richardson asked, incredulously. Zabini nodded meekly.

"Whether or not it started with Smith, I can't say," he replied. "But something was wrong. I just feel like a fool for not finding out sooner."

"Well, thank you Blaise," Richardson replied kindly, even going so far as to place a hand on his shoulder. "You may return to your seat. You shall not have to deal with this for much longer, I assure you.

"I now call Pansy Smith to speak to the court," Richardson said, and Pansy rose from her seat and strode confidently to the seat that Zabini had recently vacated. "You did not catch the two together, did you?"

"No, I regret to say that I did not," Pansy admitted. "But I knew that Zach was unfaithful."

"How could you know such a thing?" Richardson asked.

"I have wanted to marry Zach for so many years, and always he turned me down," Pansy said. "At first I thought it was because he was too nervous to agree to it. Then I started to wonder if he thought I was just the ugliest woman to ever exist. Then I realised that he was seeing someone else. The day that I realised this was the day that I got the word that we were to be married. I instantly forgot about that, and focused on what was the happiest day of my life. But even in that first week I felt some doubt. I didn't know what it was, but I knew that he didn't love me. And that hurt because I loved him with all my heart. I still do."

"That must have been painful for you," Richardson said. "When did you become aware of your husband's infidelity?"

"Blaise came to me after he filed for divorce," Pansy said. "I was so heartbroken. I asked Zach, and he denied it, of course. But Blaise assured me that he caught them at it. I didn't believe him at first, but then he told me something …"

"What did he tell you?" Richardson asked, perhaps a little too eagerly.

"It's embarrassing," Pansy said, managing to get her face to go red.

"It's okay, dear," Richardson said softly. "This is about you getting retribution."

"He told me what he saw," Pansy said slowly. "He described … he described Zach's … manhood to me."

"But you couldn't even see that in the memory!" Zach cried out, standing from the chair. "How could he describe something he never saw?"

"__Silencio__!" Richardson said. "I will hear no more from you."

The crowd started an uproar. At first Justin thought it was in support of Zach, but when people started throwing objects at Zach and Daphne he realised how wrong he was. Out of nowhere a rock hit Zach in the head and he fell backwards into the chair. Justin's heart stopped until he saw Zach moving again.

"Silence!" Richardson shouted, rising from her chair. When the noise died down she sat back down. "It is clear to us all that the allegations against the defendants are unequivocally true. Therefore it is my great pleasure to declare both marriages at an end."

Once again, Richardson stood from her chair, her wand raised high above her head.

"I, Joan Richardson, High Inquisitor, hereby unbind the marriages of Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass, and Zacharias Smith and Pansy Parkinson. From this moment on, two beings shall become four."

There was a great shimmer and Zach, Daphne, Zabini and Pansy were all enveloped in a yellow light for five seconds. The light disappeared, leaving nothing behind.

"High Inquisitor," Zabini said from his seat. "I will now request the Ministry's consent to marry Pansy Parkinson. We have shared a terrible ordeal together, and I can think of no one better to bind my life to now that Daphne has shown her treachery."

"What say you, Pansy?" Richardson asked, a wide smile on her face.

"I want this as well, High Inquisitor," she said with a smile. "I want a man who will never be unfaithful to me, and that man is Blaise."

"The Ministry consents to this match," Richardson said with a nod. "May you live a long and happy life together." The courtroom broke out into applause as Pansy left the seat near Richardson and walked towards Zabini. When they were together, they pretended to look abashed. Zabini then smiled and kissed Pansy on the cheek. The courtroom hooted at that. When the noise died down once again, Richardson turned back to the still silenced Zach and Daphne.

"Now we shall move onto the more serious matter of what can only be described as treason," she said seriously. Daphne waved her arms and pointed to her mouth. Richardson sighed exaggeratedly and waved her wand at Daphne first and then at Zach. "As much as it pains me to do so, I suppose we __must __hear what you have to say on the matter."

"Why would I conspire against the Ministry?" Daphne demanded.

"Well, since it's clear that you would be working together, it would be 'Why would __we __conspire against the Ministry'," Richardson said to laughs throughout the courtroom. "And that is fairly obvious. You wanted to cause chaos. Perhaps you have some deluded notion that the new administration isn't good enough. Perhaps you even defy the Dark Lord himself. He who made Magical Britain so much greater." Daphne scoffed.

"Says the American," she said derisively. "Regardless, while I may disagree with the Dark Lord on some issues, I feel that he has done what is best for our community time and time again. I have no cause to take up arms against him. In fact, that would be downright stupid of me. Oh, and it would just be me alone. As I've said before, I am not involved with Zacharias Smith. I don't know him at all. We were at Hogwarts in the same year, but he was a Hufflepuff and I was a Slytherin. We didn't tend to hang around together."

"Your time at Hogwarts is irrelevant," Richardson said, irritated. "This court has found that you have been having an affair together."

"No," Zach said firmly. "You did that. Not this court. And you made your decision based on a fake memory and lies from our spouses."

"It seems that you two are intent on changing the subject," Richardson said, eyebrows raised. "Perhaps you are hiding something. You are guilty of treason. Admit it."

"Even if I was," Daphne said angrily, "which I'm not, I wouldn't admit to it. You said it yourself. The penalty would be execution. What good would come of admitting to it even if I had done it?"

"A clear conscience," Richardson replied. "You could die with some dignity."

"No one gets to die with dignity," Daphne said. "You can live with dignity, but you can't die with it. So, in the spirit of living with dignity, I did nothing to aid any rebels. I had no knowledge of the various attacks that day. If I had been involved, don't you think I would have tried to get my sister out of Azkaban? Do I seem like the kind of person to sit around and let others do the work? So why wasn't I there?"

"We don't know that you weren't," Richardson replied.

"No, that might be true," Daphne said. "But you got a list of names. My name wasn't on that list. Nor was Smith's, was it?"

"That means nothing," Richardson said. "Just because you were never known to Charles Weasley does not mean that you weren't involved."

"Well, I wasn't," Daphne snapped. "That's all there is to it."

"What about you?" Richardson asked Zach.

"I don't know anything about any rebels," Zach said firmly. "I don't see why I'm even a suspect. What good would I do to any rebel force?"

"You work at the Ministry," Richardson pointed out with a smirk. "These terrorists would need people in the Ministry. You could help them that way."

"My job is nothing," Zach asserted. "I have no power. No influence. I've never even been to half of the Ministry. How could I help them?"

"I'm sure there's a way," Richardson said proudly. "I would like to call –"

At that very moment a second set of doors opened loudly. Justin looked towards the noise and saw Lucius Malfoy stride into the courtroom, torchlight glistening off his silver hand.

"I am sorry to interrupt what I am sure is a … riveting session," Malfoy said with a smirk wider than any Justin had seen that day. "I'm afraid that the Dark Lord requires your presence, Joan. You too Yaxley, Amycus and Alecto. This cannot be ignored, so finish this tomorrow."

"As you say, Lucius," Richardson said with a nod. She then turned to the chairs containing Zach and Daphne, smiling widely. "You get a reprieve. Tomorrow at 1pm we will find the truth of this. Not that it will take too much. I don't know about everyone else here, but I am completely and utterly convinced of your guilt. Enjoy your one day of single life, traitors."

The doors nearest to Justin and Susan flung open as two men approached Zach and Daphne. Susan hit Justin on the arm and they started moving together towards the doors. When they exited, Susan began to pick up the pace.

"Everyone will be out of there soon, so we have to be fast," she whispered. Justin and Susan reached the end of the hallway before anyone else had left the courtroom and immediately started jogging up the long, winding staircase. When they reached the lift they, once again, found it empty. They got in and Susan told it to go to the Atrium. A few moments later they were back where they began.

"We'll need to split up here," Susan said. "There's no one around, but be quick. Just walk into the fireplace and say nothing. You will exit in the toilets. We'll meet where we left each other before we came in."

"Okay," Justin said. Susan took the Invisibility Cloak off and ran away in the direction of a fireplace. Justin did the same, and entered into one. He stood there for a second, saying nothing. Suddenly he felt himself twisting upwards and, within seconds, he was in a toilet stall alone. Taking just a moment to gain his bearings, he opened the stall door and walked out of the place entirely. He found Susan quickly, and she took his hand. Her hair was back to its normal colour, but her face was paler than usual.

Without talking, the two found their way back to the alleyway they had Apparated into earlier. Not letting go of his hand, Susan turned on the spot and they were back at Justin's house.

"That wasn't good," Justin said, flopping down onto his couch. "That was horrible."

"Well, look at the bright side," Susan said.

"What bright side?" Justin asked. "They're going to be executed."

"At least he isn't married to Pansy Parkinson anymore," she replied. Justin looked at her for a moment and then laughed despite himself.

"I suppose that is a positive," he admitted. He was about to say something else when there was a hurried knock at the front door. Justin and Susan both froze. After a few moments there was another knock, quicker than before.

"Wand out," Susan said quietly. "You answer, I've got your back."

Justin stood from the couch, his wand now clasped firmly in his right hand, and walked slowly to the door. He reached out and opened it. A man wearing a bandana, with a jacket on and hood up, stood on his doorstep.

"I'm a friend," he said. His voice was odd, though. It was as though it was distorted somehow. "I promise, I mean you no harm."

"How can we know that?" Justin asked, not lowering his wand even a centimetre.

"I don't want to see Zacharias and Daphne killed either," he said quickly. "I can help."


	36. The Next Plan of Attack

**_**Disclaimer: **_**__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes.__

* * *

**_**Chapter 36**_**

**_**The Next Plan of Attack**_**

"__Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack__."  
\- Sun Tzu ("The Art of War")

**_**Hermione Granger**_**

**_**16**_****_**th **_****_**January, 2004**_**

"We need to be on the offensive," Alastor said from the back of the room. Everyone else was seated around the large kitchen table, but Alastor chose to stand away from everyone else, leaning on his staff with his one good arm. "Don't think the attack at the Fogarty home wasn't some kind of warning to us. It was, and it's showing the Death Eaters that we can't protect our own."

"He's right," Bill said fervently. He was seated to Hermione's right and she could see his fist clench as he spoke. "We can't let this slide. We have to take it to them, and we need to do it soon."

"Take what to them, exactly?" Hermione asked pointedly. Bill shot her a glare. "I detest them for what they did to Charlie as much as you, but how do you propose we attack them right now?"

"When the Death Eaters were trying to take power nine years ago, they weren't anything massive," Alastor pointed out. "Yet here we are."

"Are you saying that we should act like the Death Eaters did then?" Hermione asked. "I think that's pretty much out of the question. Even if we were prepared to take the Ministry by storm, which we aren't, what about all of the innocent bystanders? How do we distinguish them from the Death Eaters?"

"Hermione's right," Hestia said. "Trust me, I want to get right in there and end it now, but we're not ready."

"When will we ever be ready?" Bill snapped. "We've been hiding away for almost six years now and the minute we decide to stick our head out we end up being completely and utterly found out. We will never be in a good position, so now's as good a time as any."

"Now that people know there's a sizable resistance, they might consider turning on the Ministry," Hestia replied. "If we can get some more people we might be able to fight head-on."

"And how exactly are they going to contact us to get involved?" Alastor asked. "Their owls won't be able to find us, they don't know where we are and we have no conduit in their community."

"That's not necessarily true," Draco said suddenly. He was seated with Astoria on one side and Katie on his other. "We have Hugo Brantell."

"Who won't stick his neck any further out for us," Alastor growled. "No doubt the man's been helpful, but his help can only extend so far."

"What about Umbridge?" Alicia asked.

"She hasn't managed to quite get herself back into the Ministry yet," Dedalus said. "She managed to get a job at the Leaky Cauldron as a part-time bartender. Old Tom Dodderidge is getting on a bit, so he was happy for the help."

"Tom's still there?" Bill asked in surprise.

"He never outwardly opposed You-Know-Who in either wars," Dedalus shrugged. "I asked him once before the Second War why he didn't get involved in the First. He said that he hated You-Know-Who but he had more to think about than just hate. I can't say I blame him."

"Obviously Umbridge isn't being herself," Ginny said. "Who is she impersonating?"

"A French witch," Alastor said. "She went to France and posed as a hairdresser and was able to get some hairs from a French Muggle who she is now impersonating as a witch. Her story is that she was so impressed by the British Ministry that she moved from France to see it for herself. It seems to be working well enough. It's not as good as Lockhart, but she should be able to get some information. It will come as no surprise that there are a lot of alcoholic Death Eaters."

"So, has she come across anything?" Hermione asked.

"I have," Umbridge said from the door. Hermione jumped slightly at her voice. "Sorry I'm late. I only just got away."

"It's no problem," Hermione said, indicating to an empty chair. While she still couldn't stand the sight of the woman, she still felt the need to be polite. She had helped them after all.

"I won't be staying long," Umbridge replied. She then looked to Astoria. "I stopped by to tell you that I just heard something about your sister."

"Daphne?" Astoria asked, standing up. "Is she okay?"

"It doesn't seem so," Umbridge said. Hermione still wasn't used to seeing her express any kind of empathy, and it actually made her flesh crawl. "She and … Zacharias Smith, I believe it was, had a trial yesterday."

"What?" Astoria asked hurriedly. "What did she do?"

"They were there for two reasons," Umbridge continued. "The first was a divorce hearing. Their partners, I'm not sure who exactly they are, claimed that the two of them were having an affair together. From what I can gather, both marriages were ended yesterday. The second reason is worse. Their ex-partners also claimed that they were involved in the attack last week."

"But they weren't," Astoria said. "Daph will be fine, won't she?" There was silence for a moment, and Astoria sat back down and Draco immediately put an arm around her shoulder.

"If what I've heard is correct, it's Joan Richardson who is presiding over the case," Umbridge said quietly. Draco swore.

"Who is she?" Hermione asked, voicing the question on everyone's lips.

"She went over to the Dark Lord three years ago," Draco explained. "There are rumours that she tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the Magical Congress of the United States of America. After that she allegedly faked her own death and fled the country. While she was abroad she heard about what the Dark Lord had done in Britain and decided to go to him. She's not quite his right hand, but she's closer than most."

"So, she's dangerous then," Ginny said dryly. "What does that mean for the trial?"

"Well, Malfoy has things pretty much correct," Umbridge replied. "She's ruthless. Chances are she's only bothering with a trial to satisfy the wider community. If she has made up her mind, it might as well be over."

"I thought you said the trial was yesterday," Astoria said. Her eyes were glassy as though she was on the verge of tears.

"It was," Umbridge said. "They got through the divorce proceedings and then they were interrupted. It is being completed today."

"Do you know when?" Alastor asked quickly.

"No," Umbridge replied. "Although the Leaky Cauldron was pretty empty earlier this morning. It could be that it is going on right now or is already over. I'm sorry, but I really do need to go. It's almost lunchtime and Tom wants me to help with it. I'll find out what I can."

"Thank you," Astoria said. Umbridge nodded. Before she turned to leave, her eyes darted quickly to the other end of the room where Dennis sat watching things unfold. She lingered for just a second before leaving the room.

"Can we do anything?" Draco asked when Umbridge was gone. Astoria drew in a shaky breath.

"No," she said. "We can't do anything."

"If we can help Daphne, we should," Draco said quietly. Astoria shook her head.

"We can't though," she replied. "We don't know what courtroom it is. Or how many Death Eaters are there. Or when it is supposed to be on. We have nothing to go on."

"Who was the other person involved?" Katie asked. "Did she say Zacharias Smith?"

"Well, we can rule him out of defying the Ministry," Ginny scoffed. "He'd piss himself if he got anywhere even close to doing that."

"Maybe they'll just put them in some cells at the Ministry," Angelina suggested. "Like the ones we were held in. We might be able to do something about it then."

"If they think that they're helping us they won't just keep them in a cell," Alastor pointed out. "Especially after what we did to Azkaban."

"Wait!" Draco said so suddenly that Astoria jumped. "The letter! Daphne gave me a letter at Christmas. It was not to be opened unless something drastic happened to her. I made sure to take it when I was at Spinner's End last week." Draco flicked his wand and a moment later a bag flew towards him which he easily plucked out of the air.

"She must have thought that this was a possibility," Astoria said, looking decidedly more optimistic as Draco opened the letter and handed it to her. Everyone was quiet as she read it over to herself. When she was finished, she handed it to Draco and indicated for him to read it aloud.

"__Astoria and Draco,__

__I am writing this in the very sincere hope that it will never be needed, but I cannot deny the possibility that it may eventually be important that you know some things. Of course, if anyone but the two of you lay eyes on this letter it says something entirely different. Can't be too cautious these days.__

__I'm playing a very shaky and volatile game right now, and I can't say for certain that it won't all blow up in my face, so here's the details. Use what I tell you how you will. If I know you, Astoria, you will know the right thing to do. I also trust both of you to not put me first, because in the big scheme of things I am not all that important.__

__I'll start with Blaise. I'm certain that Astoria knows that Blaise and I don't have the warmest of relationships, but I do suspect that Draco has seen something there as well. If he hasn't, I'm afraid he would be rather a bad Slytherin. Well, truth be told, Blaise has been cheating on me for some time with Pansy Parkinson. I've known for a while but before now I haven't really had the chance to do something about it.__

__I did a bit of digging into Parkinson family, hoping to find something to use against her at some point, and I discovered that there were plans in place to have her marry one Zacharias Smith. I got a few ideas and decided to follow Zacharias around for a few days.__

__This is where my plan is going to fall apart if, in fact, it does.__

__I discovered that he has been hiding Justin Finch-Fletchley away from the Ministry for years and I pieced together that they have been romantically involved for some time. I then talked to Justin, and told him my plan.__

__My plan is to have Zacharias and Pansy married for a few months and then to have Zacharias 'notice' that she is cheating on him with my husband. When he discovers this, my plan is for us both to get divorces and then marry each other. Yep. Marrying a gay guy. Astoria, you must be thrilled. The way I see it, I will have my freedom, no one suspects Zacharias and Justin are together and Blaise and Pansy, much as I loathe to even imagine such a thing, will be allowed to marry and breed to their heart's content. Everybody wins. It's a thing of beauty.__

__Which is precisely why I need this letter to be in your possession. Such beautiful things never work out flawlessly. And I'm the first to admit that this plan is not flawless by any stretch of the imagination.__

__As I said earlier, if something terrible does happen to me and you are forced to read this letter, I am highly doubtful that you will be able to do anything for me, and nor should you. The envelope to this letter is a Portkey which will take you to the front door of Justin Finch-Fletchley's home. Tell him what has happened, and warn him that he should perhaps stay away from his house for a time. Torture is, unfortunately, a possibility. While I am almost certain that Zacharias will never give up Justin's location, I cannot say the same for me. I am not a fan of pain, as you well know Astoria. I'm sure you remember the last time I was in pain, dear sister. I certainly do.__

__I have no idea where things will end up for me after this. I go into it fully aware that I may well lose my life. That is my choice, and I make it of sound mind. Blaise has inhibited me in so many ways that I simply have no choice but to do this. The only people who know about my plans are myself and Justin. Zacharias does not know. Nor do our parents. When this is over perhaps we can try to become one big happy family. It's what keeps me going.__

__With all my love,__

__Daphne.__"

By the time Draco was finished reading the letter, there were tear tracks on Astoria's face but she was no longer crying. Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Maybe I was wrong about Zacharias," Ginny said. "Perhaps he isn't as spineless as he seems."

"How are we supposed to use the Portkey?" Angelina asked. "Obviously it doesn't work by time or touch, so it has to be a password."

"I know what it is," Astoria said. "Charms don't last forever, so Daph hinted at it to protect him further. It's 'greyscale'. She contracted it the summer after my first year, and it was so painful for her. It's the only time I can remember her being in pain."

"We shouldn't go," Alastor grumbled. "A random Portkey is never a good thing."

"Daphne gave this to me herself," Draco said, glaring. "This came from __her__."

"Who's to say she isn't working for them?" Alastor asked. Draco scoffed.

"Did you not listen to Umbridge?" he asked. "They're being convicted. Doesn't sound like something Death Eaters would do to other Death Eaters."

"So they think she's a double agent," Alastor said with a shrug.

"That's ridiculous, Alastor," Hermione said shaking her head. "Why would she do that to her sister?"

"They've done worse things," Alastor replied. "You-Know-Who can be persuasive."

"She's __not __a Death Eater!" Astoria snapped and snatched the letter from Draco's hands. "I'm going. Who's coming with me?" She stood from the table and held the letter out. Draco immediately grabbed it.

"Of course I'll go," Hermione said and grabbed it as well.

"I'll go," Dennis said, speaking for the first time during the meeting. Suddenly there was a burst of flame and Fawkes came into view with a vibrant trill that lifted Hermione's spirits instantly. "There were two people from this world who I saw after Colin's death. The first was Justin Finch-Fletchley and the second was Zacharias Smith. Zacharias might actually have saved my life when he saw me because he covered for me with his parents. I have to do something."

"I'll go if I'm needed," Katie put in, staring at Fawkes.

"Thanks Katie, but four should be enough," Hermione said. "This isn't likely to be a Death Eater trap, despite what Alastor might want us to believe."

"On your head be it," Alastor said gruffly.

When Dennis had hold of the letter they were ready.

"Greyscale," Astoria said quietly. Hermione felt a sudden pull at her navel and soon she was spinning. Hermione braced herself just moments before her feet hit solid ground once again. Dennis had not braced himself well at all. Hermione held out a hand and pulled him up.

"We'll have to teach you how to properly use Portkeys," she said with a smile. Dennis smiled back.

"I haven't had much chance to use them," he replied. "Muggle-borns don't use them much, and nor do people forced back into the Muggle world."

"We'll go through it when we get back to Number Twelve," Hermione said.

"We're too late," Astoria said quietly.

"Death Eaters got here first," Draco said angrily as Hermione walked towards the window.

"Oh, God," she said. What she saw in the window was destruction. The entire room was covered in scorch marks and there was one particularly large spray of blood on the far wall, next to a door. She could just see enough to see a body slumped on the ground below the blood, its head bowed, unmoving with a slit throat. Fawkes trilled from his perch on Dennis' shoulder, but Hermione felt no different. "We need to call someone. The police."

"We can't," Draco said quickly as Hermione struggled to pull her gaze away from the destruction in the room. "If they killed him like this rather than a public execution, it means it's probably a trap. Plus, there's no Dark Mark above the house. Again, a sign of a trap. Most likely they've set up wards inside the house to detect when someone with magic enters. Then they show up and, lo and behold, they find yet another rebel to kill."

"Why does that mean we can't call the Police?" Hermione demanded. "They're not magic."

"If you did call them, what would they do?" Draco asked. "They would make us wait until they got here. What happens if one of us is asked to go inside? It's too risky."

"So we just leave him here like this?" Dennis asked, looking decidedly sick. Fawkes tilted his head and looked at Dennis before nipping him on the ear in what Hermione supposed was an act of empathy.

"Draco's right," Astoria said, not looking much better than Dennis. "This smells like a trap. We need to go now. For all we know, we've already triggered some kind of ward warning them of our presence."

Hermione looked through the window once again and felt her stomach turn. She wanted to yell at Draco and Astoria for their callousness. Berate them for not caring about the dignity of another human being. Yet she realised they were right. __Constant Vigilance__, Hermione thought sadly.

"We need to go back, Dennis," she said quietly. "Fawkes can take you back, can't he?"

"No, we can't just leave him here," Dennis said with a pained look on his face.

"We have to," Hermione replied, reaching out and grabbing hold of Dennis' arm before he could react and turning on the spot. Moments later they were outside of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place once again.

"No!" Dennis said angrily as Fawkes appeared on his shoulder in a blaze of flame. "This isn't right."

"You're right," Hermione admitted as there came two pops in quick succession to her left. "But we need to ensure our survival so we can win. Sometimes we have to make tough decisions."

Hermione looked into Dennis' eyes willing him to see the truth of it. For a moment, his eyes blazed in a way all too familiar to Hermione, but it was extinguished all too soon, replaced by what she hoped was resignation.

"I'm sorry," Hermione said quietly.

"So am I," Dennis replied. He then turned and walked towards the front door of Grimmauld Place, followed soon by Hermione, Draco and Astoria.

When the four of them got inside, they were greeted by Alastor's wand in their face. Hermione sighed.

"You just told us off for wanting to take a Portkey," she said quickly. Alastor's wand lowered and he turned and walked back into the kitchen and the big table.

"Death Eaters got there first," Draco reported when they were back seated where they had been before they left. "They killed him in his house and didn't use the Dark Mark. It smelled like a trap, so we left before we could spring it."

"Smart," Alastor said, the hint of a smile on his lips.

"A man has died," Hermione said angrily. "Don't smile. And you weren't right. The Portkey wasn't a trap. They never knew we were going to be there. So get over yourself, Alastor. Justin Finch-Fletchley was another person who didn't need to die, and someone who might very well have been able to help us, and you have the audacity to smile?"

"Twice in two days," Ginny murmured in agreement.

Alastor looked at Hermione for a moment, but both eyes turned away and he even managed to look slightly abashed. The room was silent for a long time. In that time, Dennis stood up and walked out, his footsteps ascending the stairs heard by all of them. When a door closed above them, Hermione thought she could hear the faint sounds of Fawkes' singing.

"Does anyone else have anything to put in?" Bill asked.

"I know my word isn't worth much at the moment," Alastor said, "but I did have a thought. What if we attack somewhere other than the Ministry? Malfoy Manor comes to mind since we have people here who know their way around the place well enough. If we could take it for our own, we could use it as a second base. A backup."

"I'm not sure that would be wise," Draco said. "Father is a high ranking Death Eater, which means that the Manor was given more protection when the Dark Lord won. More wards were erected, and others were replaced with better, more efficient ones. In fact, I would not be at all surprised if there were even guards at the Manor now just in case I show up there."

"It's not such a bad idea," Bill said thoughtfully. "I mean, obviously Malfoy Manor is out of the question. But what about the homes of other prominent Death Eaters? Do you know some of them?"

"Only one," Draco replied. "I visited Goyle once after Hogwarts. It's the only time I've ever seen his house. It was horrendous, as you would expect. I've been to Yaxley's home a time or two, but only through the Floo so I don't really know where he lives. Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange have visited Malfoy Manor, but I've never been to their home. I think they live near Hogsmeade now. I'm still just the son of a Death Eater, despite this stupid tattoo. They would never allow me to have such knowledge. Father does, maybe even Mother, but not me."

"Well, it's an idea nonetheless," Hestia said. "We might be able to revisit the idea somewhere down the line."

"Should we get a version of the Dark Mark?" Ginny said suddenly.

"The tattoo?" Hermione asked. "No, I think that might be a bit much."

"No, like the one the Death Eaters use after an attack," Ginny explained. "Except ours won't be so terrifying. We could use it as a way to show people in the magical community that we're here."

"That's not a bad idea," Katie said, smiling. "I have no idea how it would even work, but I like the idea."

"I agree," Alicia said enthusiastically. "What better way to throw the Death Eaters off than by using one of their tactics against them? Hermione was right earlier, we shouldn't do what the Death Eaters did, but this could be one thing we could do similar to them."

"Kind of like when kids mimic one another just to get a rise out of the other person," Angelina said, nodding. "I've seen it in class and it drives the other kid mad. And me for that matter. If we can find ways of doing this, Alicia's right. It would throw them off immensely."

"Alastor?" Hermione asked. The old man grunted.

"It's a good idea," he said. "It's simple. It's bloodless. And most of all, it will spread our message. Good thinking."

"Thanks," Ginny said, smiling. "Obviously it has to involve a Phoenix, but if anyone can think of anything fitting for it tell me. Hermione, could you make this work?"

Hermione thought about it for a minute. She had read a book from the Black Library once a few years ago that had something in it about a spell similar to the one used by Death Eaters to conjure the Dark Mark. It had seemed to her that it was probably how Voldemort had devised the idea for the Dark Mark. __If I read it a bit closer, I should be able to rework it enough to fit our purpose__, she thought, trying to remember the title of the book.

"I think so," she said finally. "I read a book with something similar. I'll look for it as soon as I can."

"If no one else has anything to say," Dedalus said after a moment, trailing off.

"Actually, I did have something," Hermione said. "If you don't mind."

"Go right ahead," Dedalus said with a smile.

"I know there are some of us who are annoyed that we aren't doing more than we are, and I understand why," Hermione began. "This is tough for us all, and it's only going to get worse from here. The Death Eaters had it easy when they were rebelling against the Ministry after You-Know-Who was resurrected. They didn't have morals to adhere to. They didn't care about innocent life. In fact, the actively tried to cause as many innocent casualties as possible. We are in their position now, and we will not do these things. I think even those of us who are, perhaps, more eager to get things done will agree with that sentiment. There is very little that we can do to harm them. We just have to be patient and think of something. When that opening comes, we need to be ready to strike. It we want to fix things, we need to be prepared. We can't run in headlong and hope everything will be okay. There's more at stake than just our lives. Let's be prepared."

"Here, here," Dedalus said, smiling broadly.

With that, the meeting ended and everybody started to get up and leave the room. Soon, only Hermione, Luna, Katie and Alastor remained. Alastor walked towards Hermione after a few moments.

"Being prepared is all well and good," he said, "but we can't remain idle for too long. If we do, we lose the attention of the Wizarding community and it will be more difficult to get them on our side. I know we aren't going to attack anyone, but Ginevra's idea was quite good. Imagine a symbol of the Order of the Phoenix above Gringott's in Diagon Alley. That could well be enough to change someone's mind or make them realise that they can fight back."

"Well, I should get to work to find that book as quickly as I can then," Hermione said with a smile. "Are we really the Order of the Phoenix, though? I hadn't thought about it."

"I've always been under that assumption," Alastor said gruffly. "We do have a Phoenix among us, after all."

"It doesn't seem the same without Professor Dumbledore," Hermione commented.

"No, it doesn't," Alastor replied. "But Albus wasn't the backbone of the Order, as he would tell anyone. It's the rest of them. He was just the man with the Phoenix, or so he said. Personally, I think he was just being deliberately humble, like always."

"Maybe we should have a vote to decide a new leader," Hermione said, with a laugh.

"I don't think we need to," Alastor said. "You seem qualified for the role." With that, the older wizard turned and left the kitchen.

"He's right, you know?" Katie said.

At that moment, Victoire came running into the room and ran straight to Hermione.

"What're you doing, Aunty Hermione?" she asked sweetly. Hermione smiled broadly at her.

"I was just going to look for a book in the library," she said. "I could use some help, if you want to."

"Yeah!" Victoire said. Hermione scooped her up.

"I'll help too," Katie said. "I've always had a knack for finding books. Maybe I'll help speed things up a bit."

"What about you, Luna?" Hermione asked. Luna was still sitting where she had been the whole meeting, though she had said nothing.

"No, I think I will find Dennis," she replied. "We need to go shopping, and he might like to come with me. If he does, we might take some of the kids as well. It does them good to get out and about."

"What about the meeting?" Hermione asked. "What did you think?"

"I tend to agree with you, rather than Alastor," she replied airily. "But, then, I never really wanted to be involved. I don't like the idea of violence, and I don't think I am very well suited for it. Of course, You-Know-Who must be stopped, and I do like the idea of settling down for life. We can't have that kind of thing during a war, can we?"

"No, I suppose not," Hermione replied, her mind wandering to Charlie, making her insides twist. She had imagined herself with him for the rest of her life, maybe even one day having kids with him, and yet he was taken from her too soon. __Just like Ron was__, she thought dully. She was beginning to think that perhaps that kind of love was not ever going to happen for her. At least not in the long term. __Doomed to be a spinster__, she thought. __I should get a new cat__.

"Who were you planning on settling down with then?" Katie asked in a cheeky tone. Hermione's reverie was broken as she was genuinely curious at how Luna would answer. Luna looked at Katie and her eyes seemed to sparkle.

"Someone nice," she replied simply.

"It would be nice if I could see the future," Hermione said wistfully. "Know what's coming. Sometimes I even wish I could believe in your Divination."

Luna stiffened and her eyes suddenly lost all sparkle.

"No," she said seriously, and Hermione felt a chill. It was almost as though she was back at Justin Finch-Fletchley's home, looking in through a window at the horrific scene inside. "You don't."

Luna stood quickly and walked away, saying no more.


	37. The Man with the Bandana

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 37**_

_**The Man with the Bandana**_

"_Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides_."  
\- André Malraux

_**Justin Finch-Fletchley**_

_**16**__**th**__** January, 2004**_

Justin felt extremely tired as hot water ran down his body. He had not slept well the previous night after the events of the day, with the trial and then that man with the bandana wrapped around his face came to his house.

He claimed to want to help get Zach and Daphne out of the trial alive, and Justin felt inclined to believe him, though Susan had not at first. In fact, she was outright suspicious of him the whole time he was there, which was not very long. Susan had asked him immediately who he was.

"Does that really matter?" the man had replied, his distorted voice sending a chill down Justin's spine. It was then that he turned his eyes to look into Justin's. His brown eyes, Justin remembered, had a look to them as though he was pleading. The man's eyes and eyebrows had been all that could be seen of his face, and Justin saw enough to be convinced of his sincerity. "All I want is to help."

"You say that, but how are we to know that you won't just sell us out to the Ministry?" Susan had then asked bluntly. Justin had lowered his wand, but hers was still firmly pointed at the man's head. "Perhaps we should just kill you now."

"Susan," Justin had said quickly. "No. He's trying to help us."

"Jus, you know I trust you, but I think you might be letting your concern for Zach cloud your judgment," Susan then said, not looking away from the bandana man. "We go on one trip to the Ministry and then this guy shows up claiming to want to help. More likely he was sent here to gain our trust so that we are an easier target for the Ministry."

"That's not how they work, and you know that," the man had replied. "If I were working with them, I would take you both out right now." That was when Justin had worked it out.

"Wait!" he said so suddenly that Susan looked away from the bandana man and looked at him. "You. You were the guy in the blocked memory! At the library. You saved me."

"How do you know about that?" the man had asked quickly, the distortion becoming slightly higher pitched. "Xeno put a Memory Charm on you."

"We broke it," Susan had said simply.

After that it, Susan became much less suspicious of the man with the bandana, though Justin did notice her eyes looking towards the sword he carried with him quite often. He had not stayed long after that, and told them only that he would do his best to get Zach and Daphne out.

"Go again tomorrow," he had said at the doorway, the door open for him to leave. "Use the Invisibility Cloak again. It never failed _me_."

Justin let the water flow onto him and down his body as he stood, trying to wrap his minds around the events of the previous day and the potential events of the day ahead of him. Despite his concerns and the bad feeling deep in the pit of his stomach, he still was struggling to keep his eyes open. When his eyes started to droop for what felt like the hundredth time, Justin rubbed his eyes and turned the shower off. The hot water stopped abruptly, but for a moment there was some residual heat. Justin shook his head, partly to wake himself up and partly to get the hair out of his eyes.

_I need a haircut soon_, he thought as he opened the door to the shower, feeling the cold air hit him suddenly. He reached for a towel immediately. He looked into the slightly fogged mirror after drying off, and considered shaving, but decided that it wasn't necessary and put on some clothes.

"I was beginning to think you'd fallen asleep," Susan said when Justin walked into the kitchen and put two slices of bread in the toaster. "You should have some coffee."

"Oh, I planned on it," Justin replied. "Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight."

"If all goes according to plan, you won't be sleeping alone," Susan said with a wink. Justin smiled weakly at her. "In all seriousness, that's pretty much best case scenario."

"Yeah, I know," Justin said. "Worst case is Zach and Daphne are both executed."

"I know we can trust that bandana guy," Susan said seriously. "But that doesn't mean he's capable of getting them out."

"Would he really offer his help if he didn't think that he could?" Justin asked. "I mean, if he thought it was beyond him, what good does it do to even offer?"

"I guess," Susan said. "Who do you think he is?"

"I have no idea," Justin said. "All we have to go off is that he has brown eyes, and that could well be contact lenses to hide his true eye colour."

"And we know that he had the Invisibility Cloak," Susan pointed out. "He must have been the one who gave it to me."

"You don't think he had you Memory Charmed do you?" Justin asked.

"It's crossed my mind," Susan said and shrugged. "He might have. If he has, it must be for a good reason. Perhaps we should ask him later today. My big question, though, is how I never met him. He was obviously working with Xeno and Augusta, and yet I've never run across him at all. At least, not that I know of. For all I know he could be someone in that group in disguise.

"The problem is that your memory that we recovered, and this has been bugging me since you told us what it was, showed that he was right there with Xeno and Augusta on a mission," Susan continued as Justin buttered a piece of toast. "I don't remember any mission involving a library. I mean, I wasn't exactly being told everything by Xeno, but Augusta was talkative and told me pretty much everything. Nothing about any library or a man who hid his face behind a bandana. He must have shown up after I was caught."

"That was when Augusta never showed up back at her place, right?" Justin asked. Susan nodded.

"That's right," Susan confirmed, looking thoroughly confused. "I never did understand why she didn't come back. I mean, there was no danger of me revealing the location as I wasn't the Secret Keeper, so she was safe there. Pol didn't know, either. According to her, Augusta showed up, got the poor Elf to pack some clothes and she left again."

"Odd," Justin said. "What does this guy have to do with it though?"

"Nothing, really," Susan replied. "Not that I can tell. When was it your memory was from?"

"December of 99," Justin supplied after a moment.

"I took up residence at Longbottom Manor in April of that year," Susan said. "Looks like there's a few months between then and your memory, which was also when Augusta was caught, that we don't know about. I can't be certain, but this guy must have something to do with it."

"Well, here's hoping he can answer some of our questions," Justin said. "Honestly, though, it doesn't seem like he's going to be very open with us about himself. He wouldn't go to such lengths to hide himself if he wanted people to know all about him."

"I'll get something out of him," Susan said fiercely. "I need to know."

The change in her demeanour was abrupt, but it was something that Justin had become used to since Susan had come back into his life. In fact, Justin was surprised that this was the only change in Susan he had seen. For the most part, she was the same girl he had been friends with since First Year at Hogwarts, and yet she had spent over four years living with only a House Elf for company. At times Justin wondered how she retained her sanity. And whenever he brought it up, she just laughed and told him that she bought a television for a good reason. Whenever he asked how, exactly, she paid for said television, she tended to avoid the question.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to wait and see what happens," Justin said, trying to sound casual.

"You still want to go, then?" Susan asked tentatively.

"Of course," Justin replied.

"I know I told you yesterday," Susan began, "but I need to know that you won't do anything if the worst happens. I know you'll want to. I get that, really. But we shouldn't show ourselves just to go with Zach and Daphne."

"I know," Justin said, irritably. "I won't do anything, I promise. If I did and we both got caught, I'm not sure that Zach would ever forgive me."

"I wouldn't got that far," Susan said. "Remember that time in Third Year when Ernie stood up for him in Potions and they both ended up in detention because of it?"

"Zach didn't speak to him for over a week," Justin said with a smile. "I had to be their go-between. Ernie was so upset, it was actually kind of funny. I don't think I remember anyone else other than Zach who managed to get upset with someone for trying to help him."

"Poor Ernie," Susan said with a laugh. "And he kept apologising to Zach, but he would have none of it. And then one morning they just started being friends again like nothing had ever happened."

"Don't worry," Justin said seriously. "I'm not going to do anything. Besides, if we're lucky, this bandana guy will show up and get Zach and Daphne out of there and I won't need to do something brave and stupid."

After that it was just a matter of hours before they set out for the Ministry once again. Susan had her hair coloured differently once again, just in case. They followed exactly the same path as they had the previous day and soon came across the public toilets that were the entrance to the Ministry.

"Why have they never made it something more tasteful?" Justin asked. "I mean, I know you said yesterday it was to keep people humble, but wouldn't a wall like at King's Cross would work fine, wouldn't it?"

"You'd think so," Susan replied. "From what I can tell, the Ministry likes this because it's supposed to be private."

"Yeah, so private that people go into the stall and disappear," Justin said sarcastically. "That's not suspicious at all, is it?" Susan laughed.

"Just go," she said, smiling. "It's half-past twelve, so we've only got half an hour. We'll meet where we did yesterday."

Justin nodded and went on his way and into the toilets which were, as they were the previous day, deserted. He entered into a stall, pulled up his hood and stood in the bowl. He shook his head and flushed. He was whirling for a moment, but came out in the Ministry of Magic. It was as deserted as it had been the previous day. Justin turned right and started to walk. He soon came across Susan who, without saying a word, draped the Invisibility Cloak over both of them and pulled Justin in the right direction.

They came to the lift which was, not surprisingly, empty. Susan told it to go to the Courtrooms and off it went. This time, Justin was prepared for the sudden stop and stayed firmly upright. They quickly found the spiral staircase which led down to Courtroom Ten.

Zach and Daphne were both standing outside of Courtroom Ten. While Daphne had her parents there, Zach was on his one, and looking rather worse for wear. Justin regretted telling Susan that he wouldn't do anything.

"Where are his parents?" Susan whispered. "They should be with him."

"They're worried about their place in You-Know-Who's world," Justin whispered back, angrily. "They probably want to ensure that they are seen to have disowned Zach for all intents and purposes."

"That's their son," Susan whispered, scandalised.

"It's the same people who forced him to marry Parkinson in the first place," Justin pointed out, not taking his eyes off of Zach, who seemed to not have slept at all. _You're not the only one_, Justin thought. "It's all You-Know-Who's fault. They weren't like this before he took over."

After a few minutes, Daphne's parents kissed her and entered into Courtroom Ten, leaving the two on trial alone together. This time, however, neither of them spoke to the other. Justin noticed that Daphne looked at Zach a few times. It was a look of pity and sadness. _Is that because of how he looks, because his family were never with him or because she thinks they don't have a chance?_ Justin wondered. _Or is it a mixture of all three?_

The doors to the courtroom opened and Justin and Susan moved forward quickly, just in time to follow Zach and Daphne into Courtroom Ten. As the doors closed behind them, Justin realised that something was different this time.

There were more people present. Almost every seat was taken by someone. Justin looked around and spied Zach's parents. They were looking on at the events with disgusted looks. Justin realised that they truly believed that Zach was guilty and had helped the attackers. He wished he could run and hold Zach, but held himself back.

"High Inquisitor Joan Richardson presiding over these events," a voice called from somewhere. "The Dark Lord himself will decide the guilt of the defendants."

Justin's head swivelled to where Richardson had been the day before and he saw, for the first time in his life, the image of the greatest Dark Lord in history, Voldemort, seated next to her, his pale face looking nearly gleeful as he watched Zach and Daphne sit in the very same chairs they had just twenty-four hours before. Justin's heart sank as Joan Richardson, robed once again in scarlet, stood to address to room.

"Yesterday the court bore witness to the divorce trials of two couples which ended in two high profile divorces," she said with a smile. "Today, we shall ascertain the guilt of Daphne Greengrass and Zacharias Smith. They are both accused of aiding rebels in the attack on Magical Britain on the sixth of this month. If they are found guilty, they shall be executed this very day. My Lord, do you have something to say?"

Richardson turned to Voldemort with a simpering smile. Voldemort looked at her and nodded. She sat down and, in turn, he stood and looked at Zach and Daphne.

"It would be a sad day in the history of Magical Britain that two young people would betray us so badly," he began. "I am certain that this trial is fair and just, and I sincerely hope that these two are found innocent. Let us get this over with quickly. I have something more pressing to attend to."

"Thank you, My Lord," Richardson said. "Justice shall be swift this day. I believe that I was about to call someone to testify when we were forced to end yesterday's trial. As such, I would now like to call Pansy Parkinson to give evidence on these matters."

Pansy was sitting where she had been the day before, but this time Zabini had his arm around her and before she left, the two kissed, much to the delight of what seemed to be the entirety of Courtroom Ten. Pansy eventually found her way to the seat next to Richardson.

"Tell me, Miss Parkinson," Richardson began, "did you ever see or hear your ex-husband conspiring with any rebels?"

"No," Pansy said. "Not to the best of my knowledge."

"Did you see any letters that he might have received about such events?" Richardson inquired. Pansy nodded.

"Yes, just the one," she replied. "I found it hidden in his sock drawer."

"What did it say?" Richardson asked.

"I can give it to you, if you would prefer," Pansy suggested and Richardson grinned.

"That would be ever so helpful, Miss Parkinson," she replied as Pansy handed her a piece of parchment. A few seconds later, Richardson shook her head. "I'm afraid that this is irrefutable evidence." She then began to read the letter aloud.

"_Zacharias,_

_We have chosen a date. January the Sixth. We will destroy the Ministry and everyone associated with it. Only a few days now._

_Charles Weasley_."

There was a collective gasp from the crowd when Richardson was finished. She then handed the parchment to Voldemort.

"Irrefutable, wouldn't you say, My Lord?" Richardson asked.

"It seems so," Voldemort said.

"I refute it," Zach said loudly. Voldemort's red eyes went straight to him, and yet Justin did not see Zach flinch at all. "Why would a rebel use parchment for their letter? If they were a rebel, they wouldn't have access to it. They would use Muggle paper. Also, everybody knows that he goes by 'Charlie', not 'Charles'."

"I would advise you to choose your next words _extremely _carefully Mr Smith," Richardson said viciously. "If you try to second-guess myself again, I shall silence you. If you second-guess the Dark Lord, you will suffer a worse fate."

For a moment Justin was certain that his boyfriend was going to say something else, but he didn't.

"Thank you," Richardson said angrily. "And thank _you_, Miss Parkinson, for coming forward with this. It must have been difficult to do that."

"It was," Pansy lied. "I'm ashamed to say that I still have strong feelings for Zach. But Blaise convinced me that this needed to come forth."

_But she was going to deliver this to the court yesterday_, Justin thought angrily. _She and Blaise have been working together on this. Not that Richardson will ever admit that_.

"Do not feel ashamed," Richardson said consolingly. "It will pass with time. You may go."

"Thank you," Pansy said quietly as she stood up to leave.

"I now call Blaise Zabini," Richardson said. Zabini stood and walked over towards Richardson, but stopped to hug Pansy on the way. Again, the whole Courtroom seemed to swoon at this. They broke apart after a moment and Zabini took his spot next to Richardson. "Mr Zabini, did you ever see or hear your ex-wife conspiring with rebels?"

"No, I did not," Zabini replied simply. "If I had, I would have apprehended them right then and there and turned them over to the authorities."

"Of course," Richardson replied. "Did you ever read any correspondence between Miss Greengrass and any rebels?"

"To my eternal shame, I did not," Zabini said, actually managing to look upset about it. "With Pansy's letter, it is confirmed that Daph must have been in contact with someone, and yet I missed it."

"How does her letter have anything remotely to do with me?" Daphne asked angrily. "My name was not mentioned, and my guilt has _not_ been ascertained."

"If you would allow your ex-husband to speak, you will discover why he says this," Richardson said, her voice raised. "I had enough of you interrupting proceedings yesterday. Do _not_ make me silence you again, Miss Greengrass."

"Well, come on then," Daphne said, annoyed. "Come on Blaise. What made up memory do you have for us today? Was I fucking Charlie Weasley as well, was I?"

"There is no memory," Zabini said quietly.

"What Mr Zabini means to say is that he does not feel comfortable with this particular memory being broadcast as the other memory was in yesterday's trial," Richardson said. "As such, I have viewed the memory in the strictest confidence, and I can confirm that Miss Greengrass attempted to convert Mr Zabini to the side of the rebels one night in November of last year after they had engaged in sexual intercourse. It is my opinion that Miss Greengrass used this action in order to sway Mr Zabini's thoughts to be more amenable to change."

"Merlin knows there was no other reason to have sex with that bastard," Daphne said sarcastically. A few people laughed for a second, but it was cut off very quickly. "You shall be very disappointed, Pansy. Or, perhaps I should say you already are."

"So you admit to the accusations?" Richardson asked quickly, pouncing on Daphne's words. Daphne laughed.

"Nope," she said. "Merely expressing how unsatisfying it was to be with Blaise."

"_Silencio_!" Richardson yelled. Daphne sat back in her chair, and threw her head back in silent laughter. "Clearly she does not repent her actions in the slightest. "Unless there is anyone else here who has anything else to say, I would turn it over to the Dark Lord."

"I do!" a voice called from high up. Richardson's eyes went straight to them, as though she knew exactly what was coming.

"Mr Smith," she said. "You are the father of one of the defendants. What would you like to say?"

"Only that my wife and I would like to officially sever any and all ties with our son," Zach's father said firmly. "We are ashamed that Zacharias could grow to do such treason."

"You are convinced of your son's guilt, Mr Smith?" Richardson asked. There was silence for a moment.

"Yes, we are," Mr Smith said. "Completely."

"Thank you, Mr Smith," Richardson said, turning to Zach and smirking. "What do you have to say about that?"

"I – I don't," Zach stammered, and without being able to see his face, Justin could tell that there were tears rolling down his face. "They're my – No. I'm – I'm innocent."

"Lies!" his father roared. "Lies! He is no son of mine!"

The entire courtroom seemed to be murmuring after that, and when Richardson managed to calm them down, Justin heard Zach sobbing.

"My Lord," Richardson said with a broad smile. "What are your thoughts on the issue?"

Voldemort rose from his seat, his robes green in a sea of scarlet.

"I sentence Daphne Greengrass and Zacharias Smith to death immediately," he said. "Rabastan, Rudolphus. Put them on their knees."

That was when something bizarre happened.

There was a loud woosh that swept through Courtroom Ten. The wind that accompanied it almost blew off the Invisibility Cloak, but Justin and Susan both managed to grab hold before it was gone. When they looked back at the room, nearly everyone was gone. Only Justin, Susan, Zach, Daphne, Voldemort and the two hooded guards, who must be Rabastan and Rudolphus Lestrange, remained in Courtroom Ten.

Out of nowhere two stunning spells hit each of the Lestranges in succession, and they crumpled to the ground. After they hit, a sole set of footsteps came from behind Justin and Susan as the large doors shut behind them. Justin turned to see the man, hooded and his face hidden by a green bandana, walk calmly into the Courtroom.

"What is the meaning of this?" Voldemort demanded, pointing his wand at the intruder.

"What, can't you work that out for yourself?" the bandana man asked. "Besides, that's your first question? Not, 'Where is everybody?' or 'How did he do that?'?"

"Insolence!" Voldemort yelled. "Tell me what you did, immediately."

"See, that's more like it, Tom," the bandana man said. "It's simple really. I snuck in here earlier, put Portkeys on all of the chairs and set them to go off when you said 'knees'. Lo and behold, they're gone!"

Voldemort looked on in utter disbelief, his wand still pointed at the man with the bandana.

"_Avada Kedavra_!" he shouted. The green curse hurtled towards the man, who stepped to the side, the curse going straight past him and hitting the doors, shattering them into a thousand pieces. In one swift motion, the bandana man pointed his wand at one side of the Courtroom and swiftly flicked it towards Voldemort. A large chunk of one of the dividers came apart and hurtled at Voldemort and hit him in the side.

Using the distraction, the bandana man pointed his wand towards the chairs and wordlessly cast a charm on them, and then pushed them to the back of the room, close to where Justin and Susan were. Daphne got up quickly, and pulled Zach up as well.

"Get them out of here," the bandana man shouted as Voldemort extricated himself from the rubble. "It's only a matter of time until they all get back here."

Susan seemed to know exactly what to do, and took the Invisibility Cloak off and put it in her magically extended bag. Zach was shocked to see them standing there, but Daphne seemed unfazed. Zach ran straight to Justin who hugged him close.

"Enough of that," Susan chided. "It's time to go."

Justin looked at the bandana man who managed to duck out of the way of another killing curse, this time having to do more than simply walk to the side. As he was watching, he saw Voldemort notice them.

"Let's go," Justin said, pushing Zach off him and grabbing his hand. Susan went ahead of them at a run, Daphne trailing her and Justin and Zach following behind. They took the spiral staircase at a run, though it was long and had to slow down about halfway up. When they got to the top, it was a sprint to the lift. When they got there, they were all out of breath.

"Atrium," Susan said, and the grates closed.

"Were you there the whole time?" Zach asked, still holding Justin's hand.

"Yes," Justin said. "Even yesterday. I had to be."

Zach smiled and kissed him quickly.

"Who was that?" Daphne asked.

"A friend," Susan said. "Other than that, we don't really know."

The lift stopped suddenly and the four of them got out quickly. Zach gasped.

"Our wands," he said quickly. "They still have our wands."

"Where are they?" Justin asked.

"I think they're at the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's office," Daphne said. "Richardson's Office."

"It's my Aunt Amelia's old office," Susan said. "I know where it is."

"We'll go under the Invisibility Cloak," Justin said. "You two get to my place. You have to go back out through the toilets entrance. You know it?"

"Yes," Zach said, and Daphne nodded.

"Good," Justin said. "Apparate away straight away and meet up at my place. We'll meet you there when we have the wands."

"Will do," Daphne said.

"I'll need to take you to his place," Zach said.

"I know the way," Daphne cut in. "We'll explain later. We need to go."

Daphne then took a hold of Zach's arm and started running in the direction of the fireplaces. Susan took out the Invisibility Cloak and threw it over the top of both of them, and got back into the lift.

"Department of Magical Law Enforcement," Susan said, and the lift came alive. Justin let out a breath.

"They got out," he breathed, grinning. "He actually did it."

"It's not over yet," Susan warned. "Let's celebrate when we have the wands, shall we?"

"Of course," Justin said, though inside he was already celebrating. Zach was safe, and that was all that mattered. When the lift stopped and opened, the two of them stepped into an empty hallway.

"It's just up here," Susan said, pulling Justin to the left. "Unlike most offices, it's very close to the lift. I'm glad of that today."

They came across the door very quickly, and Susan reached out and pushed it open.

"Why was it this easy?" Justin asked quietly.

"They weren't expecting anything, I suppose," Susan said. "Now, I know where Aunt Amelia would have put them, so we'll check there first."

The room was not very big, but cupboards lined the walls, and where there weren't cupboards there were bookcases. Susan walked over to the rather plain looking desk and pulled open the first drawer, finding nothing inside but spare parchment. She opened the next drawers and found only files, parchment and quills.

"Must be one of the cupboards," Justin commented. Susan led him towards a cupboard and opened it. All that was inside was piles of papers, extending further into the cupboard than they should. Susan closed it and moved on to the next one.

They found the wands in the seventh cupboard they tried. Susan opened it, and all the cupboard contained was a solitary wooden box. Inside it were dozens of wands, on the very top of which sat Zach's wand.

"That's Zach's," Justin said quickly. "And that one might be Daphne's. I don't really know."

"Well, we don't have time, so we'll have to take them all," Susan said. She quickly took the Invisibility Cloak off and took out her magically extended beaded bag. "It's not big enough to fit the box in, so we need to get as many wands as possible."

"Alright," Justin said, and started grabbing wands and thrusting them into Susan's bag. It took a while, as there were more wands than Justin had first thought there were, but they soon had emptied the entire box and placed it back in the cupboard. Susan threw the Invisibility Cloak back over them and they walked towards the door.

The door slammed open and Joan Richardson walked through, with Lucius Malfoy and another man who had balding blonde hair, but still kept it in a ponytail that extended well past his shoulders.

"Damn it all," Richardson said angrily. "How did that even happen?"

"I don't know," the man with the balding ponytail said. "Whatever it was, we don't have time to think about it. The Dark Lord still wants to go ahead with today's plans."

"I'm aware of that, Yaxley!" Richardson replied. "I just cannot believe that they got away. We _had_ them and now they're gone."

"The Dark Lord said there were three," Malfoy said. "I did not speak to him for very long as he wants to get mobilised and he needed his ribs healed, but he said there was a man who covered his face. He duelled that man, and while doing so he saw two others emerge from under an Invisibility Cloak to help Greengrass and Smith escape. He thinks one of them was Susan Bones, which does make sense, as she was close with Smith, I am given to understand."

"So they really were in contact with rebels?" Yaxley laughed. "Oh, how wonderful."

"What will be _wonderful_ will be the Dark Lord's wrath," Richardson spat. "You know I'm going to take the brunt of it, don't you? I'm the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, after all. I'm supposed to make sure these things don't happen. What did happen to this mystery man?"

"He got away," Malfoy said venomously. "He fought his way back to the door and fled. By the time the Dark Lord was able to catch up, he had disappeared somehow."

"Another thing that will be added to my list of failures," Richardson said, sighing. Just then another person walked into the room. He was young, tall and attractive, with black hair. "What is it, Terrence?"

"The Dark Lord sent me to tell you that he is ready," Terrence said. "He requires your presence in his office. He also said, and I don't understand this, for you to bring 'the other one'."

"Thank you Terrence," Richardson said, sighing again. "Yaxley, Lucius, you're coming today, are you not?"

"We are," Malfoy confirmed.

"Good," she said, fixing her robes. "You two can go and get 'the other one', what a stupid name, and bring him to the Dark Lord's office."

"Of course, Joan," Malfoy said with a bow. "At once."

Malfoy and Yaxley left the office and Joan sat on the edge of her desk with a deep sigh, and massaged her temples. Susan tugged on Justin's arm and then pulled him towards the open door. They exited the room and headed straight for the lift which was, very luckily, vacant. They stepped in.

"The Atrium," Susan whispered and the grates closed. This time, neither Justin nor Susan said a word the entire trip, both reeling from almost being caught by three Death Eaters. When they exited the lift, some people looked at the seemingly empty lift, but no one looked for very long. They walked to the fireplaces, where it was much calmer and emptier. Even so, Susan walked to one of the fireplaces, let Justin out of the Cloak and then left, with Justin immediately walking into the fireplace and getting taken away.

Immediately he exited the toilets and waited on the street for Susan who caught up with him a minute later. They walked together to the alleyway they arrived at and Susan Apparated them away.

They appeared in Justin's house and almost immediately Justin was almost bowled over by Zach, who ran to him and hugged hum so fiercely that Justin feared he might break a rib.

"Did you find the wands?" Daphne asked.

"More than just yours," Susan replied. "There was a box full of them. Dozens. I think they're the wands of the people they've executed over the years."

"Well, I can find mine later," Daphne said. "I don't know how you managed it, but thank you so much."

"Yeah," Zach said. "Thank you. Oh, I thought I was dead."

"But you aren't," Justin said. Zach kissed him passionately.

"Well isn't that just sickening?" Justin heard Daphne say in a joking tone.

"Well, you'll have to get used to it, I'm afraid," Susan said, equally as jokingly. "Unless you would rather live with me."

"Yep," Daphne said. "That sounds like something I'm going to want."

When Zach finally stopped kissing Justin, he looked him right in the eyes.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you, too," Justin replied.

"So when do we get to meet our saviour?" Daphne asked, breaking the silence.

"I don't know," Justin said. "We know he got away."

Justin then went on to tell Daphne and Zach what had happened in Richardson's office.

"Well, you two were very lucky," Daphne said. "At least you got away. And our mystery saviour too."

"I hope he shows up here," Susan said seriously. "I have a _lot_ of questions for him."

They waited all afternoon and well into the night, but the mysterious bandana man never showed up.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Well, that was quick, wasn't it?

Seriously, though, that's the quickest I've uploaded two chapters in months. I'm rather pleased with myself.

This was originally supposed to be Chapter 38, but I decided that it made more sense to switch the two. That was mainly because there was something I wrote in the previous chapter that wasn't supposed to happen so early. But I can push things up.

You didn't really think I would kill Justin so soon, did you? I mean, he's on my new cover! Give it some time.

A massive thank you to _Jwhy_, _Elori Bluegarden_ and _JCJ58 _for their review of Chapter 36! _Jwhy_ was even my 100th review! Rest assured, though. I love all reviews equally, regardless of number! I just like reading what people have to say about my story.

This one actually has a happy ending! Not many chapters can boast that.

I'll see you guys in the next chapter.

**_~Colin, the Master of Whisperers_**


	38. The Struggle

_**Disclaimer: **__I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

_**Chapter 38**_

_**The Struggle**_

"_Treading the ground,  
I once used to know.  
People are strangers.  
Same as before.  
Streets look familiar.  
I remember the part,  
Where I buried my head,  
So deep in my hands,  
All around me was dark_."  
\- "Trembling Hands" by The Temper Trap

_**Dennis Creevey**_

_**16**__**th**__** January, 2004**_

Dennis suddenly got up from the table, turned around trying not to look at anyone else and walked out of the room as calmly as he could under the circumstances. He couldn't take it anymore, and the image simply would not leave his mind.

They had just found Justin Finch-Fletchley dead, and all they did was leave him there.

Dennis might have been able to deal with this better had Draco, Astoria and even Hermione had not just gone on like nothing at all had occurred that was out of the ordinary. Like it hadn't even had any kind of effect on them at all. Draco and Astoria he might have expected this from, but Hermione was supposed to be different.

_Is that what we do?_ Dennis asked himself as he walked up the stairs alone. _Leave people dead in their own homes? People we knew?_

Dennis had not known Justin Finch-Fletchley very well at all. They had both been in Dumbledore's Army at one point, but they had barely spoken to each other. He seemed nice enough. Though it wasn't about that, really. He had died a brutal death, and all they did was walk away.

Dennis entered into the room he had been occupying and shut the door harder than he had originally intended to. He fell onto his bed and looked up to the ceiling, thinking. A moment later, out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of flame and then he heard Fawkes trilling lightly. He looked over at the majestic creature, and Fawkes looked him dead in the eye before his beak opened and he trilled once again, causing small, happy sensation that was soon overridden by the image of Justin's house.

He knew why they left that house without entering it. He realised the danger that they could have faced had they entered. And yet there was a little voice inside him that sounded oddly like Albus Dumbledore.

_Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right, and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good and kind and brave because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory._

Those words were a lifetime ago now, and yet Dennis could recall them as clearly as he had in the Great Hall at the end of his First Year at Hogwarts. _We did what was easy_, Dennis thought morosely. _We should have done what was right_.

For a while, Dennis lay on his bed, his mind struggling to tear itself away from Justin's corpse that was still very likely in the same place as it was just minutes before. After some time, however, Dennis mind found its way, as it inevitably did these days, to Teddy Lupin.

Dennis had never once even considered being any kind of parental figure at his age. He was only twenty-one after all. Now everything he had known was gone for good and all that was left was Teddy and the expectation to be a good parent to him.

It had all become too much for Dennis the day before, and he had gone to the only person he could think of for advice, Bill Weasley.

"I have no idea what I'm supposed to do," Dennis admitted to Bill. Bill looked very tired. "How am I fit to raise a kid? Especially now?"

"Let me start off by saying something I'm sure you don't want to hear," Bill had said after a moment. "We're all here for you if you need any help. I might be Victoire and Louis' father, but Ginny, Hermione and Luna have all raised them just as much as I have. We're all willing to help.

"But, as I know that's not why you've come to me, I'll get right to it," Bill had continued in a lighter tone. Despite this, Dennis knew that Bill wasn't happy. Not that he could blame him for being that way. If it weren't for Fawkes, Dennis was certain that he would be in worse shape. "Fleur and I, we decided to have kids. We knew what we were doing, and we knew how tough it would be, especially given out situations. Even though we did this with that knowledge, we still weren't prepared. Well, maybe Fleur was. I certainly wasn't. But it's not about being prepared. It isn't about raising your kids a certain way. There is no specific way. You just have to do what you think needs to be done.

"In a way, you've got it kind of lucky. Teddy's almost six. Yeah, there's still a lot you need to do, but he's not a baby. Babies are the hard part."

"I know," Dennis had replied in a slightly whining tone. "I just can't help but feel I'm not going to do it right. That I'll screw it all up." Bill laughed.

"I know the feeling," he had said with a smile. "Really, I'm sure you'll do fine. Okay. When he has a bad dream, what do you do?"

Teddy had had a few bad dreams since Azkaban, which was to be expected.

"Well, he already sleeps with me," Dennis said. "But I suppose I tell him everything will be okay and soothe him back to sleep. Or get him a drink if he needs it. Or let him talk to me about it if he wants to."

"If he's upset?" Bill asked.

"Hug him and ask him what's wrong," Dennis said immediately. "Try to cheer him up."

"Okay, what if he comes to you to tell you something he's really proud of?" Bill asked.

"Well, I suppose I'd be as enthusiastic as possible and make sure he knows that I'm proud of him," Dennis replied.

"Sounds to me like you've got nothing to worry about," Bill had commented with a smile. "Other than keeping him fed, clothed and bathed, those are the types of things you'll have to deal with, and you're going to do fine, I assure you. Plus, with the rest of us here, he's never going to not be fed, clothed or bathed."

Dennis had certainly left that conversation feeling much more confident than he had going in, but he still felt that he wasn't prepared. Like he was going to fail. Teddy didn't need another failed parental figure. Teddy's parents had died. His grandmother had died. Dolores had left him. Dennis' parents had died. Teddy needed someone stable, and Dennis wasn't entirely sure that he could provide for him that way. He would try his best, but he was so worried that his best wouldn't be good enough.

There was a quiet knock at his door and Dennis sat up.

"Come in," he said, and the door opened.

"Are you okay?" Luna asked.

"Not really," Dennis replied. "I just can't get used to everything. A month ago I was getting ready to spend Christmas with my parents and Teddy. Now my parents are gone, I'm basically Teddy's caregiver and I had to see someone I knew once dead in their own home and do nothing about it. I just don't think I can comprehend all of this."

"I understand," Luna said as she took a seat next to him. "You just need time. You will never not feel the loss of your parents, but the pain will lessen eventually. In time, you will get used to looking after Teddy. You're already great with him, though. As for Justin … I know it's terrible, and I do agree that it is horrific what happened to him. A choice had to be made, and it had to be made quickly. We can't know if it was the right one or not, but it's what was chosen."

"I didn't choose to leave him there," Dennis said. Luna nodded.

"No, you didn't," she said. "Not all decisions in our lives are made by us. I've heard people say that life is all about choices, but what some people don't realise is that it isn't always our choices."

"How did you get so wise?" Dennis asked. Luna shrugged.

"I've always been this way," she replied. "People just have never really listened to me before."

"Why?" Dennis asked. Luna patted his hand.

"I'm not for everyone," she said simply. "At Hogwarts, people thought I was odd, so no one paid any attention to what I said. It was all just nonsense to them. Even in the DA. The only person who I think took me seriously was Harry."

"What about after Hogwarts?" Dennis asked.

"Oh, they listened to me a bit more, but my words don't carry the same weight as those of Bill or Hermione," Luna explained. "It helps that I'm not as odd as I once was."

"People should listen to you more," Dennis said. "People don't know what they're missing."

"I am flattered that you think so," Luna replied. "Now, I was wondering if you want to come shopping. We could take Teddy with us. And maybe Louis too. Victoire is with Hermione in the library."

"What about Matt?" Dennis asked. "I know he's in a bad way, but it could do him some good."

"We can ask him," Luna said with a smile. "See? You're going to be just fine being in charge of Teddy."

"How's that?" Dennis asked, confused.

"You care about Matt, and he isn't even anything special to you," Luna explained. "You have a good paternal instinct."

"You think so?" Dennis asked. Luna nodded violently.

"Absolutely!" she said enthusiastically.

"Thanks," Dennis said, grinning at the compliment. "We should probably go and find –" He was cut off by his phone ringing. He took it out of his pocket and saw that it was Aunt Lisa. "I should get this."

"Go ahead," Luna said. Dennis answered the phone.

"Hey Aunt Lisa, how are you?" Dennis asked.

"As good as can be expected, love," Aunt Lisa replied. "How about you?"

"I'm … getting there," Dennis replied. "I'll be alright soon. What's up?"

"I'm organising for the house to be sold," Aunt Lisa said after a moment. "I need you to come and look through your parents' things. There wasn't anything really specified in their Will, so I suppose if you want to keep some things, you should come and get them soon."

"Oh," Dennis said. "I hadn't thought about it. I suppose I should go and have a look. I don't think I'll keep much, though."

"I didn't think you would," Aunt Lisa replied. "I've got a few things I wouldn't mind keeping, if you don't mind."

"Of course not," Dennis said quickly. "Take whatever you want."

"Thank you," Aunt Lisa said. "The rest of the stuff will either go to charity or might even stay with the house. The furniture might at least. When can you be here?"

"Are you staying at the house?" Dennis asked.

"Nearby," Aunt Lisa replied. "I was going to stay at a hotel, but Beatrice insisted that I stay with her until I'm ready to go home."

"That's nice of her," Dennis commented. Beatrice was an older lady that had lived just down the street from Dennis his whole life. She and his parents had become close as she was one of the sane people in the neighbourhood. "I think I can be there soon, actually. I'm not all that far away. I'm visiting a friend. She might want to come with me, actually. And her kids."

Luna looked at Dennis with an odd look and Dennis shrugged.

"Your girlfriend?" Aunt Lisa asked mischievously. It took Dennis a moment to work out who she was talking about.

"Oh, Hermione?" Dennis asked quickly. "Oh, no. This is another friend of mine. Her name's Luna."

"I see," Aunt Lisa replied. "Well, she's very welcome. And her kids as well. Your new friends have some odd names." Dennis chuckled.

"I suppose they do," he said.

"How long until you can be here?" Aunt Lisa asked.

"Maybe twenty minutes," Dennis replied. "Give or take. Depends on the kids, really."

"Okay, well I might as well head over now and wait," Aunt Lisa said. "I'll see you soon."

"Bye," Dennis said and hung up the phone. He looked at Luna. "Mind if we go to my parents' house for a while? I have to … choose what I want to keep of my parents' things."

"Oh," Luna said. "Yes, we can do that. We can go there first and then to the shops."

"Sounds good," Dennis said before realising something. "Maybe we shouldn't take Teddy."

Luna thought for a moment.

"You're right," she replied. "It might be too much for him. We can just take Louis and Matt if he wants to go."

"I'll go and have a talk with him," Dennis said. "You go and talk to Bill about us taking Louis. Do you mind telling everyone else where we'll be while I have a talk to Matt?"

"Of course not," Luna said with a smile. "Just meet me downstairs when you're ready."

Dennis and Luna parted ways in the hallway and Dennis made his way to the room that Matt was in with Fawkes on his shoulder. Fawkes seemed to know who Dennis was going to see and wanted to help. Dennis felt, not for the first time, that he didn't deserve Fawkes. Matt had barely left his room since the night his parents had been attacked. Several people had tried talking to him, but he remained in his shell.

Dennis knocked on the door and heard a murmur that sounded like "come in", so he opened the door.

"Hey," Dennis said. Matt was lying on his side on the bed facing towards the door. He looked extremely tired and his eyes were red and puffy.

"Hello," he said quietly, his eyes looking more at Fawkes than at Dennis.

"How are you doing?" Dennis asked. Matt looked up at him, but didn't say anything. "We haven't really talked yet, have we?"

"No," Matt replied.

"Well, maybe introductions are in order," Dennis said with a smile as he reached out his hand. "I'm Dennis Creevey."

Matt looked at Dennis' hand for a moment before reaching out and shaking.

"Matt Fogarty," he said. "What do you want?"

"May I sit?" Dennis asked. Matt nodded and Dennis pulled a chair out from a desk in the room and sat it next to Matt. "Thank you. I just wanted to say that I know what you're going through."

"No you don't," Matt said bitterly.

"I actually do," Dennis replied kindly. "They killed my parents almost a fortnight ago."

Matt was silent, and Dennis felt a sudden rush of sadness overcome him. Barely a minute went by that he didn't think about his parents, but still he had not realised that it was only a fortnight before.

"Really?" Matt asked quietly.

"Yeah," Dennis said sadly. "They came looking for Teddy. Got him too. But … well, they don't often spare people."

Matt was silent again for half a minute.

"Does it ever stop hurting?" he asked quietly, sitting up and propping himself against the backboard of the bed.

"I'll let you know if it does," Dennis replied.

"I miss them so much," Matt said. He then started to cry. Dennis instinctively reached over and pulled the boy in and hugged him.

"I know," Dennis said, tears welling in his eyes as well. It was that moment when Fawkes decided to sing. For well over a minute Dennis and Matt sat, Matt clinging to Dennis' neck, and listened to the Phoenix song, letting the positive emotions wash over both of them. When Fawkes stopped singing, Matt pulled away from Dennis and sniffed.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm being a baby."

"Don't be sorry," Dennis said. "If there's ever a time to be crying, it's now. Trust me, I know."

"I guess you do," Matt said.

"You know you aren't alone here," Dennis said quietly. "You don't need to stay in here all alone."

"I know," Matt said, sniffling. "I just don't want to bother anyone."

"No one will think of you as a bother," Dennis said. "Well, maybe Mad-Eye. But he thinks most people are a bother." Matt laughed lightly.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do," he said after a moment. Dennis chuckled.

"I've said that a lot the last few days," he commented. "You and I are in this together, I'm afraid. Neither of us have any idea what we're meant to be doing. So, how about this? If you need someone to talk to, you can come to me. If I need someone, I'll come to you. Deal?"

"Deal," Matt said.

"Great," Dennis said happily. "Now, Luna and I were wondering if you might like to come with us out of Grimmauld Place for a while."

"I don't know …" Matt said.

"You don't have to," Dennis said quickly. "But we thought it might be good for you."

"Alright," Matt said finally. "Where're we going?"

"Well, we have to go to my parents' old house," Dennis explained. "I have to pick up some things."

"Well then, I _have_ to go," Matt said quickly.

"Why's that?" Dennis asked.

"We're in this together, right?" Matt said. Dennis smiled.

"Yes, we are," he replied. "There's just one thing."

"What's that?" Matt asked, looking concerned.

"Well, my Aunt Lisa will be there," Dennis explained. "And I told her that I would be going to the house with a friend and her kids."

"You want me to pretend to be Luna's son?" Matt asked. "I can do that. I'm good at that kind of thing. Ask Miss Johnson."

"You don't mind?" Dennis asked. Matt shook his head. "You'll have to get changed. I don't think that showing up dressed like you are would be very good."

"I suppose not," Matt said. "Miss Johnson got some clothes yesterday. I'll find some I like. Do you know where she is, by the way?"

"She said before the meeting that she was going to see about trying to get custody of you," Dennis said. "She was rather frustrated that it's taking so long."

"Will I have to be there when she does that?" Matt asked.

"I have no idea in the slightest," Dennis said. "Probably. You'll probably have to confirm that you want Angelina to be your caregiver."

"Well, I'll do what has to be done," Matt said fervently.

"Good," Dennis said with a smile. "Now, I'll go downstairs while you get changed."

"Okay," Matt said, standing up from the bed. Dennis was about to leave when Matt hugged him. "Thank you."

"No problem at all, buddy," Dennis said. When Matt let go of him, Dennis left the room, shutting the door behind him.

"How'd it go?" Luna asked when Dennis entered the living room. She was packing a stroller into what had to be a magically expanded bag while Bill nearby held his son.

"He's going to come with us," Dennis confirmed. "I think I helped him too."

"I'm glad someone could," Bill said. "Poor kid."

"He and I are similar in a lot of ways," Dennis said. "He just needed to feel like he wasn't alone."

"Don't we all," Bill said as he handed a very happy Louis to Luna. "Don't worry, I'll look in on Teddy for you."

"Thanks," Dennis said. "Where is he, by the way?"

"He went with Hermione to the library," Luna said. "I don't think he'll stay there long, though. He didn't look like he was particularly enjoying himself."

"I'll look after him for you," Ginny said, walking into the room. "I haven't got anything else to do, and I want to look him over anyway. I haven't checked him for a few days."

After the events at Azkaban, Ginny had been making sure that she checked Teddy for any issues that may crop up. They weren't sure about everything that Voldemort had done to him, so it was best for Ginny to check him regularly.

"Sounds good," Dennis said. At that moment, Matt came walking down the stairs. He didn't look great, but he was certainly happier than he had been when Dennis first went into his room.

"Ready to go?" Dennis asked. Matt nodded. "Oh, by the way, this is your brother for today."

"Hey Louis," Matt said, brushing the cheek of Louis in Luna's arms. Louis giggled.

"How are you going to explain the hair?" Ginny asked. "Luna has blonde, Matt has brown and Louis has red. That could be suspicious."

"We hadn't thought of that," Luna said slowly, looking at Dennis. "Would your aunt ask about that kind of thing?"

"Probably, yeah," Dennis said. "Maybe different fathers?"

"Luna's only twenty-four," Bill put in. "If Matt was actually your son, you would have had him when you were thirteen or fourteen. Maybe you should say you adopted him."

"That works," Luna said. "Is that okay with you, Matt?"

"Yeah," Matt replied. "So, you adopted me. What about Louis?"

"He can be my actual son," Luna said.

"Okay," Matt said.

"Well, we'd better be off," Dennis said. "It's been a while and I said I would be there soon."

"When will you be back?" Bill asked.

"I don't know," Dennis replied. "Could be late. If we're not back by five, send people to look for us. Astoria knows where my parents' house is."

"Hopefully it won't come to that, but we'll be prepared," Bill said. "I'll tell Mad-Eye. It might make him a bit less surly."

"Great," Dennis said, turning to Matt. "You sure you want to come?"

"Yeah," Matt said firmly. Dennis smiled.

"Alright, come on then," Dennis said. Luna pointed to the bag that held the stroller, and Dennis picked it up. It was hardly bigger than a briefcase.

"You can't Apparate, can you?" Luna said and Dennis shook his head. "That's fine. You can guide me the first time, then I'll come back for Matt."

"What do I have to do?" Matt asked as they all walked out of the front door. He wasn't used to apparition.

"Just wait right here on the step while I take Dennis where he needs to go," Luna explained. "I'll be back in a few seconds."

"What about Louis?" Dennis asked.

"He's been Apparated around before," Luna said. "He's used to it. Even so, when we get there, you take him while I come back. More for me than him. Take my hand."

Dennis slipped his hand into Luna's smaller hand and a moment later Dennis felt the familiar sensation of being forced down a tube. Then it stopped and he was in an abandoned side-street. He let go of Luna's hand and took Louis who cooed lightly.

"Be back in a jiffy," Luna said with a smile. There was a popping sound and Luna disappeared. Fifteen seconds later she reappeared with another pop, this time with Matt holding her hand and looking decidedly sick.

"You right?" Dennis asked while Luna started extricating the stroller from the bag. Matt threw up.

"No," he said.

"Have you ever Apparated before?" Dennis asked kindly as Matt wiped his mouth.

"Once," Matt confirmed. "The night I met Luna. But I don't remember it being this bad."

"You were hurt then," Luna said, taking Louis from Dennis' arms and strapping him into the stroller. "This was your first real time."

"Do people usually throw up on their first time?" Matt asked, downcast.

"Yes," Luna said. "I did, and I was only a little bit younger than you."

"I don't feel so bad now," Matt said with a small smile. Dennis patted him on the shoulder.

"You'll get used to it," he said. "I didn't know what it was really like until this year. I never learned how to Apparate because I never finished at Hogwarts. I've never had a reason to now, and I've been having people Apparate me everywhere recently."

After their discussion, they all left the side-street and entered onto the street where Dennis had grown up. Just across the street and two houses to the right was his house. The house where he had been brought up. The house where his parents were killed.

_It's good it's being sold_, Dennis thought sadly. _I could never live there_.

As they approached the house, Dennis saw Aunt Lisa standing on the front step. Upon seeing Dennis she walked towards them. Dennis greeted her with a hug.

"This is Luna and her sons," Dennis said, indicating to Luna. "The big one is Matt and the little one is Louis."

"Hello," Luna said, extending a hand.

"Nice to meet you," Aunt Lisa said. "Lisa Sutton. I hope you don't mind my saying so, but you look far too young to have a son that age."

"Oh, I am," Luna said. "My husband and I adopted Matt a few years ago. Matt's parents were friends of my husband, so we took him in. Louis is six months old tomorrow."

"He's gorgeous," Aunt Lisa said, predictably heading straight for the baby. After a moment she looked at Matt. "You don't look very well."

"Ate too much for lunch," Matt lied. Aunt Lisa smiled.

"I didn't know you had married friends, Dennis," she said. "Let alone friends with kids."

"Luna was friends with Colin before he died," Dennis said, thinking quickly. "Since Colin died we've been in and out of contact."

"Oh, you knew Colin?" Aunt Lisa asked and Luna nodded.

"He was the nicest person I think I've ever met," she replied. Nobody spoke after that.

"Well, maybe we should head inside," Aunt Lisa said. Dennis drew in a deep breath.

"Sure," he said quietly. "Let's get this over and done with."

"It'll be okay," Aunt Lisa said. "You don't have to stay for too long. I understand completely."

As Dennis walked through the front door, his heart started to pound. He knew that it was ridiculous. It was still the same house. The house he had grown up in. Colin had lived here. His parents had lived here since before Dennis was even born. Dennis took his first steps in this house. Said his first words. Found out he was a wizard.

It was like walking into a foreign world. Everything was where it should be. Everything was the same. But it was all different. This was someone else's house. Someone else had grown up here. Someone else had died here.

"I, uh," Aunt Lisa began. "I haven't gone into Colin's old room yet. I know you and your parents hadn't gone in since he died, so I didn't want to intrude. You should look in there as well."

"I've been in there," Dennis said. "Just the once. In September."

"I didn't know," Aunt Lisa said.

"I didn't tell anyone," Dennis replied. "I just had to."

"I understand," Aunt Lisa said. "Oh, and there was something odd about your room. There were heaps of kid's clothes. I think Simone and Brian must have been looking through your old things. I can't think of why those clothes would be there."

"Must have," Dennis said, making a mental note to pack more clothes for Teddy. "I think I'll go to Colin's room first."

"I'll go too, if you want," Luna suggested. "Could you look after Louis and Matt for me, Lisa?"

"Sure," Aunt Lisa said, her eyes brightening at the thought of looking after a baby.

"I'm going with you," Matt said quickly.

"You can come," Dennis told him before anything else could be said. Aunt Lisa looked at Dennis strangely, but said nothing of it.

From there, Dennis led Luna and Matt to Colin's old room. When he opened the door he found, as he expected, that it was exactly as it had been in September. Dusty but clean.

"Who's Colin?" Matt asked.

"My older brother," Dennis explained. "He died in 1998."

"Was he a wizard too?" Matt asked. Dennis shushed him.

"Aunt Lisa doesn't know about that stuff," he warned quietly. "And she can't know. So don't mention magic or anything when she might hear. Don't mention Teddy either."

"Why not?" Matt asked.

"I'll tell you later, but it would be best for you to not mention him for now," Dennis said.

"Okay," Matt said, zipping his lips.

"What do you want to keep?" Luna asked.

"We should probably get anything magical out of here," Dennis said. "Will you have space in that bag of yours for that stuff and the stroller?"

"Yes," Luna replied. "It's very large. How much magic stuff is there here?"

"Books mostly," Dennis said, picking up Colin's scrapbook. "Pictures. His camera. There's a lot."

"That's alright," Luna said. "Just grab everything and put in in the bag. Make sure you grab a few things that aren't magical to carry with you."

"Good idea," Dennis said as he started gathering Colin's things. He picked up all of Colin's textbooks and put them in the bag, all except one which Matt took and started reading. Dennis then picked up Colin's camera and put it away. Once Matt knew what to look for, he helped Dennis and Luna look around the room. When Dennis picked up the last Chocolate Frog Card, which happened to be Albus Dumbledore, and put it away he moved to exit the room. He had a scrapbook full of normal Muggle pictures, a framed picture of their family from when Colin was eleven and an old, nearly falling apart, copy of Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" that Colin had enjoyed in his hands.

"What about this?" Matt asked, holding Colin's journal out for Dennis to look at. "I think it's Colin's diary."

"Journal," Dennis corrected absently. "Thanks, Matt. I should keep that."

"All done, then?" Luna asked as Dennis took the journal from Matt's hands.

"Yeah," Dennis said. "Here at least."

"You want to be alone for a minute?" Luna asked as Dennis stared at the journal.

"Yeah," Dennis said. "If you don't mind."

"Come on, Matt," Luna said quietly, ushering Matt out of the room and closing the door.

Dennis looked at the empty room.

When Dennis and Colin were younger, this room was basically their meeting point. Whenever they were together, they were in this room. Whenever Dennis needed his big brother, this room was the first place he looked. Now Colin was gone and soon the room would be too. Dennis choked back a sob and turned around, opened the door and exited the room. When he entered the living room, Aunt Lisa handed him a plastic bag.

"Here," she said, noting the look on his face. "You'll need something to carry things easier."

"Thanks," Dennis said.

"Do you want to go to your parents' room now?" Aunt Lisa asked and Dennis just nodded.

"I was thinking," Dennis said quickly. "Maybe Luna should look through the clothes in my room. If Mum and Dad were looking through my old clothes, maybe she could find something for Matt in there. Or maybe Louis, but I think they threw out my baby clothes."

"Are you sure?" Luna asked.

"Well, we'd only give them away," Aunt Lisa said with a smile. "It can't hurt to look. There isn't anything in there you wanted, Dennis?"

"No, I don't think so," Dennis replied. "I've got everything of any worth with me."

"Right," Aunt Lisa said. "Well, let's go then."

Luna took Matt and Louis into Dennis' old room. Dennis hoped that Luna got the message that Dennis was trying to send. The clothes in there were all Teddy's, and it would look strange if Dennis took them. Dennis went with Aunt Lisa.

"I don't know what, exactly, you would want to keep," she said. "But I looked through everything myself and there was one thing I thought you might like."

When Dennis entered into his parents' room, he almost stopped in his tracks as he seemed to see his parents lying dead as he did a fortnight ago. He shook his head as a tear almost escaped and walked in, following Aunt Lisa.

On his parents' bed was one of his father's jackets. In fact, it was the nicest one that he owned. It was black, had six buttons down the front and had a high collar.

"Okay, yeah," Dennis said. "Dad would absolutely want me to have this one." Aunt Lisa laughed.

"I thought you might like it," she said. "It should fit you."

Dennis reached down and picked the jacket up, sitting the plastic bag on the bed. He quickly put the jacket on and did up the buttons.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"Gorgeous," Aunt Lisa said. "It suits you."

"Thanks," Dennis said.

"Was there anything else you might like?" Aunt Lisa asked after a moment. Dennis looked around the room. "Simone had a jewellery box. You probably wouldn't like any of it, but you could give something to Hermione."

"You don't want it?" Dennis asked, opening the drawer which he knew contained the jewellery box.

"I've got more than enough to last a lifetime," Aunt Lisa said with a laugh. "Besides, Simone hated me having her things. She'd much prefer you take them."

"I think I will," Dennis said, opening the box and looking inside. There was a jumble of earrings and necklaces. He closed it and put it in the plastic bag. "There was a photo album with a lot of pictures of the family in here somewhere. I would like to keep that, I think."

"Oh, I know where that is," Aunt Lisa said, opening the cupboard nearest her and reaching inside. She pulled out a large black photo album and handed it to Dennis who opened it.

"This is the one," Dennis said, looking at the photo of Colin playing with him when Dennis was just two. "It's mostly photos from before we went to school. Mum stopped taking pictures after that."

"It's good that you have them," Aunt Lisa said. Dennis started rummaging about the room. "Can you think of anything else?"

"No, I think this is it," Dennis said finally. Then he spotted something. "Wait, no. I want to keep this."

"Mum's old torch?" Aunt Lisa asked as Dennis picked up the long black torch that had belonged to his grandmother.

"I remember Nan using this heaps when I was a kid," Dennis explained. "It features in a lot of my earliest memories."

"Okay then," Aunt Lisa said. "Dennis, before you go …"

"Yeah?" Dennis asked.

"Could you call me more often?" Aunt Lisa asked. "I know I'm the only family you have left, so I worry about you. I don't want to impose, but it would make me worry less if you called me more often." Dennis suddenly felt extremely guilty. With everything that had happened, Dennis had neglected his aunt.

"Of course," Dennis replied. "I'm sorry I haven't called more. I've just been dealing with things. My friends have been helping me, and I think it's all getting easier, but I should call you more."

"That would be great," Aunt Lisa said. "I worry, that's all."

"I'll call as often as I can," Dennis promised. Aunt Lisa then hugged him before they left Dennis' parents room for the last time. As they exited they ran into Luna who was holding an old shoebox.

"I found this in the cupboard," she said. "I think there's things from when you were a kid, Dennis. You might want to keep it."

"Thanks," Dennis said, taking the box from Luna. "Yeah, I know what's in here. I should probably keep it. You done in there?"

"Yes," Luna replied as Matt exited the room. "We didn't find much, but we found some clothes that might fit. Anything that doesn't, we will give to someone else."

"Great," Dennis said.

"I suppose you'll want to be going," Aunt Lisa said. "You don't think you could come and visit Beatrice? She has been asking about you."

"I don't think we have time," Dennis lied. "Luna has to head home and I have to get back to Pat and Sam otherwise they'll get worried. Another time, maybe. Tell Beatrice I said hello."

"I will," Aunt Lisa said.

When they were all standing on the front yard, Aunt Lisa hugged Dennis again.

"Don't be afraid to call if you need to talk," she said.

"I won't," Dennis replied. "And you should do the same."

"I will, I promise," Aunt Lisa said, letting go of Dennis.

Dennis looked at the house. Even now, knowing that he might never see the house again, Dennis couldn't see it as anything other than the place where his parents had been killed. That made it much easier to walk away from it, Luna on one side and Matt on the other.

As they got to the side-street, Dennis checked his phone. He had a missed call from Sam because his phone had been on silent while he looked through his old house.

"Mind if I give Sam a quick call?" Dennis asked.

"I have to pack away the stroller, so no," Luna said, smiling. "By the way, I'll put your bah in this one so it's easier to carry. Think you can hold Louis, Matt?"

"I think so," Matt said hesitantly. As Dennis put the phone to his ear, he watched as Luna gave Matt a lesson in how to hold a baby. After a few rings, Sam picked up.

"Sorry I didn't answer earlier, Sam," Dennis said. "I was a bit busy."

"That's fine," Sam replied. "I was just calling to tell you that Pat and I are at my parents' house. They just got back from America, so I thought I'd come and see them. We got here this morning."

"Pat actually went with you?" Dennis asked, shocked. "He didn't run screaming in the other direction the moment you mentioned it?"

"He did," Sam said. "I just ran after him and bullied him into coming. It's alright, though. He's getting along really well with Dad. Surprisingly so. I'm actually a bit worried." Dennis laughed.

"That's all you wanted to tell me?" he asked.

"Yeah," Sam said, though she sounded uncertain. "Well … there was something else."

"What's that?" Dennis asked.

"Well, yesterday I just kind of freaked out," she admitted. "I got really scared of what you're doing. It's pretty much why I'm here. I'm afraid something's going to happen. Not that I blame you, though! I know that's what you're thinking."

"I was," Dennis admitted. "It's okay that you're scared. When you get back, I'll find a way to keep you safer, I promise. I don't want you and Pat getting hurt."

"Thank you, Dennis," Sam said. "I'm sure I'll be fine. I just had a bit of a thing. I think being around my family for a while will put it all into perspective. After a few days of this, nothing will scare me anymore."

"It's no problem," Dennis replied.

"Well, I should let you go," Sam said after a moment. "I'll let you know when we leave."

"Okay," Dennis said. "I'll talk then. Bye."

When Dennis had his phone back in his pocket, he looked over to see Matt holding Louis awkwardly.

"How about I take him from you?" Dennis asked. Matt gave him a grateful look.

Luna then Apparated Matt to a place close to the shop before coming back for Dennis and Louis. An hour later they had everything they needed and Louis was looking extremely tired.

"Bill will want to feed him before he goes to sleep," Luna said. "We should go straight back."

They walked to where they had Apparated to and gave Louis to Dennis. She Disapparated with Matt, leaving Dennis alone. It took her longer than usual getting back. When she did she had a worried look on her face. She simply grabbed Dennis' arm and spun on the spot. Moments later Dennis was standing next to Matt who reached over and hugged Dennis around the middle.

"This was how we found it," Luna said tearily.

Dennis stared straight ahead at the smoking ruins where Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place had once been. Louis started to cry.

* * *

**Author's Note**

I'm evil. Like Carl the Llama evil. I do terrible things, but I can get away with it because I'm so damn lovable. And I like me a silly hat.

I hadn't intended on this chapter being so long, but I think it's a good thing. I originally had planned for the stuff with Sam to be much longer and to include something kind of shocking, but I cut it out because it would have made the chapter too long, and I can't say the shocking thing would have made sense.

I was going to write "On the plus side ..." but I couldn't come up with anything. That's either a good or a bad sign. Depends on how you look at it.

My eternal thanks go out to _JCJ58_, _Erainor_ and _Hectorsmom_ for their reviews! I love that people care enough to review my story. I hope to see some reviews for this chapter.

As a final thing, some of you may know this already but if you don't, I've been re-uploading unfinished stories from my old accounts on this account. I've got three others going up, so if they interest you, check them out. Rest assured loyal readers that this story is my priority. I will update the others with new chapters when I re-upload the existing chapters, but this story is Priority #1. The others are good though. You should check them out.

Thank you all so so so much for reading this story. I'll see you guys in the next chapter.

**_~Colin, the Master of Whisperers_**


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